
Tuesday, June 9, 2026· 10.4465, -75.2617
A Family of Fungi on the Green Plank
By Omar Enrique Verdugo Cabeza, Cuidador de las aves·Reviewed by Alejandro Rigatuso
In the little patch of forest that clings to the edge of aviario 4, Omar Enrique Berdugo found something worth stopping for: a cluster of wild fungi in shades of orange-red, pushing up through the grain of an old plank painted green. They were all there together — some small and just emerging, others already with their caps fully open and their stems stretched long — every stage of growing pressed into the same piece of damp wood, with the tall trees closing off the sky all around.
Omar, whose eyes have been trained on this territory every single day, didn't let them go unnoticed. To him, those fungi told a story that reached well beyond biology: the tiny ones were childhood, the large ones adulthood, and all of them together, a family. One of those simple ideas that only comes to someone who truly looks. He documented them with photos and videos, logged their coordinates, and wrote it all down so that it would not be lost.
About the author
Omar Enrique Verdugo Cabeza · Cuidador de las aves
Omar has been working at Fundación Loros since 2023. He knows the wilderness and Cerro El Peligro better than anyone. Once a hunter, he has since become a guardian of wildlife. Today, the parrots recognize him and follow him when he returns home — a testament to a bond built on respect and transformation.



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