Mary saves birds

Long before Mary appeared on a grilled cheese sandwich or chocolate drippings, she appeared in a tree root in northeastern Colombia. Perhaps there is a reason she appeared there in 1709 on the stump of a tree. Nearly 300 years later, researchers have photographed two rare birds for the first time in the small area of forest surrounding the tree, according to the American Bird Conservancy.

Obviously such Mary sitings were less common back then, and the Vatican declared the stump a miracle. The church built a chapel around the stump (and it's still there) has protected Torcoroma Holy Sanctuary, a small forest, in the little explored region ever since.

The birds, the Recurve-billed Bushbird and the Perija Parakeet, had not been seen from 1965 to 2004 because their habitat is remote. The Bushbird is endangered and both birds face loss of habitat due to deforestation and wildfires for agriculture and grazing.

Perhaps Mary was trying to tell us 21st century folk something by showing up in a tree stump in 1709. So just what does she mean to tell us by showing up in grease stains under a highway?