Bird Wisdom & Storytelling: Safeguarding Wiwa's Traditional Ecological Knowledge

The fog was so thick I could feel it embracing my body, which was still stiff from sleep. It was 5:45 in the morning, and I was navigating a narrow, steep trail through the rugged hills of the cloud forest in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.

Along with Leandro, my Wiwa guide, we were searching for the sparkling White-tailed Starfrontlet (Coeligena phalerata), one of the approximately 20 endemic birds that inhabit the world's highest coastal mountain chain.