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The Bird of Freedom
Cuba’s national bird, el Tocororo, won’t tolerate a cage
© Michael Klotz
There’s a bird in Cuba with plumage in blue, red and white — the same colors as the nation’s flag. The Tocororo, or Cuban Trogon, is the national bird of Cuba. When the Tocororo is kept in a cage, they often die. This fact has become a metaphor of freedom embraced by Cubans. The Cuban Trogon is a medium-sized bird often found in pairs. Its song sounds like its Spanish name, “Tocororo.” While el Tocororo is currently abundant, its population is declining due to loss of habitat.
Listen to this episode in Spanish here.
BirdNote®
The Bird of Freedom
Written by Camilo Garzón
This is BirdNote.
[Cuban forest soundscape, ML 133210]
There’s a bird in Cuba with plumage in blue, red and white — the same colors as the nation’s flag.
[Cuban Trogon, Xeno Canto 256810, 0:06-0:10]
This bird… is the Tocororo, the Cuban Trogon, chosen as the national bird of Cuba. When the Tocororo is kept in a cage, they often die. This fact has become a metaphor of freedom embraced by Cubans. The Tocororo is a bird that would rather die than live without freedom.
The Cuban Trogon is a medium-sized bird often found in pairs. Its song sounds like its Spanish name, “Tocororo.”
[Cuban Trogon, Xeno Canto 256810, 0:24-0:27]
It lives in the woodlands of Cuba and likes to sit still, except when feeding on flowers and fruits. While el Tocororo is currently abundant, its population is declining due to loss of habitat.
So hopefully, after hearing this story, you might be inspired to work with the Cuban people to make sure we can keep seeing these birds in the wild, and painting this bird in our memories. Just remember, never in a cage.
This show is also available en español — visit our website, BirdNote dot org, to learn more. I'm Camilo Garzón.
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Senior Producer: Mark Brambill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Script Editor: Camila Kerwin from the Rough Cut Collective
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Soundscape ML 133210 recorded by G. Budney, and Cuban Trogon Xeno Canto 256810 recorded by H. Matheve.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote September 2022 October 2024
Narrator: Camilo Garzón
ID# CUBTRO-01-2022-09-23 CUBTRO-01
Reference
http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/cuban-trogon-priotelus-t…
