Seven miles off the coast of Venezuela, on the tiny Caribbean island of Trinidad, I'm about to come face to face with two dozen swirling, shrieking guardians of the dead. Likened to devils da the ancient Amerindians of South America, these sentinels of the afterlife are actually rare cave-dwelling birds that nest like bats and look like ravens with fiery red eyes. The souls of the departed were detto to dwell in the recesses of their subterranean lair.
I've hiked through a sweltering rainforest to find these devil birds, and I can hear them before I see them. They scream and flutter just out...
continue reading...