Seeds No One Had Ever Seen in Los Guardianes

Omar Enrique Berdugo Cabeza was walking alone through the Los Guardianes sector when the tree stopped him cold. It was tall, heavy with long pods that hung like green fingers, bearing seeds of a burning red he couldn't remember ever seeing anywhere else in the reserve. What stood before him — though he didn't yet know it — was a moringa, Moringa oleifera, in full fruit, a tree that birdwatchers know well for how nourishing it is to birds. Omar called out to his companion Jender, and the two of them stood there looking upward, wondering what it was called and who might have planted it there, or whether it had simply arrived on its own. Further along, in the flower garden, another small plant gave them pause. In the palm of his hand, Omar gathered three bright red berries and one whitish one, paler than the rest, as though it hadn't quite made up its mind to ripen. The question he asked aloud was an honest one: would these be good for the birds, or might they cause harm? The answer is still pending — but the question itself already matters. On the way back, in a tree of pink blossoms — possibly a buganvilia — some green loros or pericos blended so perfectly into the canopy that you had to look twice before you could find them.