COLOMBIA

here’s a tributary in the Magdalena that runs over a bed of green marble, passing beneath tall limestone bluffs with caves that come alive at dusk as thousands of (oilbirds) emerge into the night. Spinning in the darkness, the birds quickly disappear beyond the highest reaches of the canopy. At dawn, they return, satiated and weary and there’s a brief moment of calm, soon broken by a cacophony of hoots, whistles and screams