Ptica, ki so jo dvakrat imeli za izgubljeno

Na vzhodu otoka je Polly odletela v star gozd lovorovcev, poraslih z mahom. Do tal je prišlo le malo sonca. Ta hladni gozd blizu vrha Pico da Vara je zadnji dom majhne sive in rožnate ptice, ki je ni nikjer drugje na Zemlji. Imenuje se priolo.

In the east of the island, Polly flew into an old forest of laurel trees covered in moss. Not much sunlight reached the ground. This cool forest near Pico da Vara is the last home of a small grey and pink bird found nowhere else on Earth, called the priolo.

Ptica je dvakrat skoraj izginila. Ljudje so jo nazadnje videli leta tisoč devetsto dvaintrideset in dolga leta so vsi mislili, da je ni več. Nato so leta tisoč devetsto sedeminšestdeset v istem gozdu spet našli majhno skupino. Kljub temu je kmetijstvo krčilo njen dom, dokler ni ostalo manj kot sto gnezdečih parov. Je ena najredkejših pevk v Evropi.

The bird almost disappeared twice. People stopped seeing it in nineteen thirty-two, and for many years everyone thought it was gone. Then, in nineteen sixty-seven, a small group was found again in this same forest. Even so, farming kept shrinking its home, until fewer than one hundred breeding pairs were left. It is one of the rarest songbirds in Europe.

Ljudje so se leta trudili, da bi jo rešili. Odstranili so hitro rastoča tuja drevesa in namesto njih posadili domači lovor, ki ga ptica potrebuje za hrano in zavetje. Polly je videla, kako sta dva priola odletela z veje, pokazala blisk rožnate barve in se tiho klicala, preden sta izginila med listjem.

People worked for years to save it. They removed fast-growing foreign trees and planted native laurel instead, the kind the bird needs for food and shelter. Polly watched two priolos fly from a branch, showing a flash of pink, calling softly to each other before disappearing into the leaves.

Čakala je brez glasu in upala, da bo videla še kaj, a se je gozd spet zaprl okoli ptic. Zdela se ji je poštena menjava: malo tišine za ptico, ki še živi.

She waited without a sound, hoping to see more, but the forest closed around the birds again. It felt like a fair trade: a little silence, for a bird still surviving.