The Bird Twice Given Up For Lost

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.

Mashariki mwa kisiwa, Polly aliruka hadi kwenye msitu mkongwe wa miti ya laurel iliyofunikwa na kuvu. Mwanga mdogo tu wa jua ulifika ardhini. Msitu huu wenye baridi karibu na Pico da Vara ndio makazi ya mwisho ya ndege mdogo wa kijivu na waridi asiyepatikana mahali pengine duniani, anayeitwa priolo.

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.

Ndege huyu alikaribia kutoweka mara mbili. Watu waliacha kumwona mwaka wa elfu moja mia tisa thelathini na mbili, na kwa miaka mingi kila mtu alidhani ameisha. Kisha, mwaka wa elfu moja mia tisa sitini na saba, kundi dogo lilipatikana tena katika msitu huu huu. Hata hivyo, kilimo kiliendelea kupunguza makazi yake, hadi kubaki jozi chini ya mia moja zinazozaliana. Ni mmoja wa ndege wenye wimbo adimu zaidi Ulaya.

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.

Watu walifanya kazi kwa miaka mingi kumwokoa. Waling'oa miti ya kigeni inayokua haraka na kupanda laurel ya asili badala yake, aina ambayo ndege huyu anaihitaji kwa chakula na hifadhi. Polly aliwatazama priolo wawili wakiruka kutoka tawi, wakionyesha mweko wa waridi, wakiitana kwa upole kabla ya kutoweka ndani ya majani.

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.

Alisubiri bila sauti, akitumaini kuona zaidi, lakini msitu ulijifunga tena kuwazunguka ndege hao. Ilihisi kama biashara ya haki: ukimya kidogo, badala ya ndege ambaye bado yupo hai.