The Tree the Birds Have Already Named

Jorge Alcalá and Michel Salas were making their way through the dense vegetation of the reserve when they came upon a young tree — slender-trunked, its branches reaching out to either side as though trying to embrace the forest around it. It was a Trema micranthum — though no one here calls it that. In this land they call it 'pajarito' or 'periquito,' names the local people have given it over time, surely because they know what comes when the fruits ripen. That day the little fruits were still green, clustered tight along the stems between toothed-edged leaves and shafts of sunlight filtering down through the canopy. It wasn't time yet. But the name already says everything: this tree has an appointment with the birds of Fundación Loros, and when the season arrives, the Trema will keep it.