Fly Like a Bird

Sometimes we find ourselves in the right place at the right time and things come together that we could never have planned or thought of at the start of the day. Being a part of the radio shows allows me to contact a lot of different people asking for information or for an interview, which has opened up many great conversations.

Recently I met José, a biologist who teaches at the university and is a bird expert. For those of you who aren’t bird fanatics, it just so happens that there is an International Day of Birds (or migratory birds, depending on which source of information I read) and this year it happened around the second weekend in May. José agreed to come speak on the radio show about birds, and it was really very eye-opening.

Bolivia is extremely rich in biodiversity. Despite its smallness in size, it is in the top eight countries in the world in biodiversity. According to online sources there are 1,448 species of birds in Bolivia. While on the air the biologist invited us all to go to the local manmade lake the upcoming Saturday for some bird watching. My Franciscan friend and I agreed it would be a perfect opportunity to take the kids from the social center to see.

As a reminder there is a group of kids recovering from bad burns who live in the same building as me and they’re constantly looking for ways to get out and be active outside these 4 walls. Of course when I proposed the idea of going to the lake to see birds and walk around, they jumped at the idea.

 

 

We got there later than is ideal for bird watching, but we were able to see some. We learned that many species now don’t come to the lake anymore. A major part has to do with the contamination (it’s quite bad) and another factor has to do with the changes in climate that we are experiencing. It’s one thing to hear about the changes but it’s another to actually see, hear and smell them.

 

The kids participated in a drawing competition and in the end everyone went home with a little backpack with goodies inside. They really enjoyed being at the lake and learning about the birds and we made up over half the people there so both the planners of the event and we were happy. Making my parents proud, I made sure the kids all said thank you at the end!.

 

5 Things I’m thankful for today: meetings that are productive; jumping rope; pictures of the kids in my extended family which remind me of them; warm blankets at night; access to delicious exotic fruits like maracuyá.