By Alejandro Rigatuso, Fundador y Director de Fundación Loros·Reviewed by Alejandro Rigatuso
A few weeks ago, Sombrerito — the Amazonian parrot tagged B12 — arrived at the Fundación Loros facilities with a wound that would change him forever: he had lost an eye, most likely in a fight. What followed were days of intensive care, of uncertainty about whether he would ever be able to return to the open air with any semblance of a dignified life.
Yesterday, we released him. And this morning, Omar headed out with the camera and found him flying. Not only that — Sombrerito arrived at the uvital in the company of B11 and a third companion, perched on a wooden beam with all the ease of someone who has nowhere to be, and then lifted off again into the tropical vegetation surrounding the reserve.
The photographs say everything. A one-eyed parrot, free, among his companions, with no visible sign that life owes him any explanation. For us, that image — Sombrerito perched calmly, his little B12 band right where it belongs — is worth more than any recovery report ever written.
About the author
Alejandro Rigatuso · Fundador y Director de Fundación Loros
Alejandro Rigatuso arrived at Fundación Loros after years as Vice President of Growth Marketing at Toptal, bringing with him an unconventional perspective: he knows an animal is well by its eyes, "bright, wide open." Lorenzo, the first parrot released, recaptured several times and always set free to fly again, marked him forever. At dusk, around five-thirty, you'll find him at the Mirador de las Ciénagas or wandering around Cerro El Peligro, envisioning observation towers and hundreds of native parrots soaring over a reserve that an entire community calls their own.
