The Oak That Bloomed Among the Feeders

Omar Enrique Berdugo Cabeza arrived at the Fundación's grounds that afternoon with a task he knows by heart: raise the feeders and make sure the released birds have their ration. It is a routine that repeats itself, yet it carries within it the conviction that granting a bird its freedom does not mean leaving it to fend for itself alone. It was as he lifted one of the feeders that he saw it. There stood the roble, planted in the middle of the grounds as if it had always been waiting for precisely that moment to reveal itself — covered in bloom, ablaze, stunning the surrounding green with a color Omar couldn't quite find words for, yet one that stopped him cold. The flowers of the roble — a tree native to these Colombian lands — lit up the entire park. There are days when fieldwork mingles, without warning, with something that can only be called wonder. This was one of those days for Omar.