Amidst the fog of Monserrate, dozens of hummingbirds awaken Bogotá
Paula Cabaleiro
Bogotá, May 20 (EFE) - Shrouded in the dense fog at dawn, Monserrate Hill awakens each day with a scene worthy of a fairy tale: dozens of hummingbirds emerge from the bushes of the high Andean forest and greet with their fluttering walkers as they ascend the steep path toward the sanctuary.
At 3,150 meters above sea level, in the eastern part of Bogotá, Monserrate is known as a religious pilgrimage site, famous for the penitents' climb up its more than 1,500 steps. It is also a natural sanctuary, where birds like the hummingbird find refuge and food amid the Andean vegetation.
The path, which thousands of people climb daily from 5 a.m., is shrouded in a thick fog that, like a mystical veil, transforms the hill into an almost sacred place.
"When it's cloudy, hummingbirds come more often because they don't like direct sunlight. They come out of the mist to say hello just when you're most tired and almost at the top," Luis Eduardo Parra, one of the guides for the El Paramuno Bird Trail, a corridor inaugurated seven years ago on this protective hill in Bogotá, explains to EFE.
The trail is one of the best places in Colombia to observe these birds, receiving some 6,000 visitors a year, including international tourists like a British couple who traveled specifically to see them.
"There's no other place like this that's within a city," they told EFE, amazed by the hummingbirds' proximity, while their translator informed them of what Parra had told the group.
Hidden among the tree branches are the blue feathers of the screech hummingbird, the orange and purple feathers of the paramo hummingbird, which gives the trail its name, and the long beak of the swordtail hummingbird, an endemic variety of the region that joins the 18 different species that can be found throughout Monserrate.
Despite their tiny size, hummingbirds are creatures of extremes: "During the day, their heart beats about 1,200 times per minute and their body temperature can reach 40 degrees," explains the guide.
However, at night, "they enter a state of complete lethargy: their temperature drops to 10 degrees and their heart rate to just 100 beats per minute," which makes them vulnerable to predators.
They rest hidden in branches and bushes, vulnerable to predators such as snakes, birds of prey, or even cats abandoned by visitors on the hill.
During the day, however, they fight tirelessly to defend their territory: "The screech-owl and the paramuno are very territorial. They fight all day long over food," explains Parra, while visitors watch the frenzy of wings around wildflowers and watering holes installed at strategic points along the trail.
The El Paramuno Trail, just 300 meters long, is not only a prime spot for hummingbird watching, but also a pedagogical tool for environmental education.
The NGO Audubon and the administration of Cerro de Monserrate have formed a partnership to raise public awareness about the importance of bird conservation. This partnership is reflected in the new signage featuring photographs of the different species found along the trail to make them easier to identify.
The waterers, red to make it easier to distinguish the birds, require rigorous care: "We use sugar water, but it has to be changed every day because it ferments quickly in the sun and that can harm them," says the guide, pointing to one of the transparent containers hanging from the trees.
In addition to the resident hummingbirds, birds descend from other thermal levels in search of flowering plants, turning the hill into a living ecological corridor.
For Audubon, hummingbirds are more than just a tourist attraction: they are sentinels of climate change and ambassadors of biodiversity.
Colombia, the country with the largest number of bird species in the world, has in Bogotá a clear example of how to conserve wildlife even within a metropolis of more than eight million inhabitants.
"The goal is for anyone to be able to experience the magic of birdwatching in their natural habitat and understand their vital role in our ecosystems," Camilo Cardozo, director of Audubon in Colombia, told EFE.
As the morning progresses, the fog dissipates and the hummingbirds return to the depths of the forest, but their fluttering remains suspended in the air, a reminder that, even in the heart of the city, nature still sings to those who know how to listen. EFE
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