October 9th, 2021 was a “Big Day,” where birders around the world went out canvassing their ecosystems, finding birds, and compiling bird species counts. We at Finca Luna Nueva always participate in these global counts, but this year offered up a twist. Not only did we have humans go out to find birds on our Cabalonga Trail in the rainforest, we had a bird go out and find humans.
Our dear friend and neighbor TeTe, the general manager of the Brave Earth community that is adjacent to our lodge, was the human in this story. She was out hiking and birding on our trail when, to her surprise, a yellow-throated toucan seemed to be following her. She advanced along the trail but the toucan kept pace, perching in trees along the path and not letting her get too far away.
TeTe had opened a cacao pod and was snacking jungle style, so she thought to share some of the cacao with the friendly toucan. The toucan deliberated for a minute or so, but the offer proved irresistible. The photo captured the moment where a toucan, wild and free, joined TeTe for a little cacao treat.
But this just doesn’t happen, and after we posted the photo we learned the backstory. Turns out our neighbor Hernán, while out in the forest, found a little toucan with a damaged beak. The toucan was struggling, and Hernán, being a good soul, brought the toucan back to his family to aid in its recovery. The family fed and cared for the toucan for many months, keeping it first in a small cage and then providing it with a much larger enclosure where it had the freedom to explore the wilds should it desire.
The toucan now comes and goes, and we at Finca Luna Nueva are delighted that the toucan has now decided to come to our forest and meet our dear friend TeTe. Who knows: maybe this toucan will greet you when you’re on our trails!
This is a picture of the family who rescued him. They have a rural tourism family project called Finca La Esperanza, and we’d be happy to arrange for our guests to visit this rural farming project and learn more about our community.
