The Squirrel Cuckoo Among the Leaf Litter of Pie de Monte

José Marín was walking through the Pie de Monte sector when a movement in the foliage stopped him in his tracks. It was a squirrel cuckoo —Piaya cayana— moving with the unhurried calm of a creature that knows exactly what it's looking for: insects tucked away among the branches and low vegetation. With its long rufous tail and cinnamon breast, the bird worked its way methodically through the understory, in no particular hurry, as though the afternoon belonged entirely to it. José managed to capture the moment on video before the bird disappeared once more into the thicket. The squirrel cuckoo is a familiar presence along forest edges and scrubland throughout Colombia's Caribbean region, but seeing one like this —active, hunting— always warrants a pause. Here in the reserve, every sighting adds another brushstroke to the living portrait we are slowly building of what calls these 520 hectares home, nestled between the forest and the Cartagena sky.