The national bird of Curaçao is the Troupial.

On our second day we took a shuttle into town and visited the floating market, where we purchased a variety of fresh fruits. Among those fruits was a plantain. We’d never tried fresh plantain before and neither of us liked it, so the next morning, hubs cut up some small pieces and set them out on our balcony floor to see if any fruit loving creatures might visit. We were enjoying our morning coffee on the balcony, so we didn’t expect any visitors while we were sitting right there.

It wasn’t long before the Troupial in my feature photo arrived. He wasn’t one bit bothered by us. All he cared about was gobbling up the plantain pieces.

Over the next few mornings, we’d see him waiting in a nearby palm tree.

As soon as we’d set out the plantain pieces, down he’d come to enjoy his treat. I like to believe it was the same bird because he arrived around the same time each day that we set the initial fruit out. The little breakfast ritual each day with “our” Troupial provided fun for both of us and another fond memory of our time in Curaçao.

“ I don’t feed the birds because they need me; I feed the birds because I need them.”

Kathi Hutton