Betove and the Macaws That Alert the Sky

Omar Enrique Berdugo Cabeza climbed the hill early, the way those do who know that the mountain keeps its own hours. At the release point, the blue-and-yellow macaws — Ara ararauna — received him like someone familiar. But it was on the way back that the hill showed him something more: the birds were sending alert calls skyward, that ancient and urgent code that parrots use when a predator circles from above. Omar stopped to listen. Further down, along the trail, a juvenile iguana occupied the center of the path with a gravity that felt like a message. It held still for just the right amount of time — long enough to be seen — and then vanished into the vegetation with all the speed of wild things. Back at the aviaries, Omar distributed the day's diet: banana, guava, papaya, bell pepper, sunflower seeds and peanuts, shared among macaws, Amazonian parrots, and real parrots alike. It was there that he found himself reunited with Betove, a loro real who lives in the aviary and who is one of the figures that made milestone number 15 of Fundación Loros possible. A parrot that already carries history.