Chapter 10- the Lear's macaws' home patch
Sapphire, Mercury, Phoebe, Annette, Jasmine and Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa followed Valentino, Rosalind, Waldo, Alejandro and the other Lear's macaws through the trees. Around them, dozens of Lear's macaws dotted the green trees. Like Venus was with the Spix macaws, Mercury was amazed at the number of Lear's macaws, individual birds like himself numbering in the hundreds. However, he knew that the Lear's macaw tribe and their neighbours, the green macaw tribe, must have their habitats included in the sanctuary if they are to be protected against the devastation caused by logging. Soon, what appeared to be the central home of the tribe emerged into view.
"Is that your home?" asked Mercury when he saw a large cliff with an opening in the rock.
"It is, yes," said Valentino, "It's a ravine that has a rocky cliff face on one side, a sandstone cliff face on the other and a few trees scattered in the middle. It's been our home for generations."
Then as Valentino and Rosalind led the group through the opening which was the entrance of the ravine, the interior opened. Gasps were drawn in by Mercury, Travis and Sunset while the chicks awed at the beautiful habitat. The habitat was like the Spix macaws' ravine but there was no big waterfall. However, there were three small waterfalls trickling from above one of the cliffs and emptied into a larger stream at the bottom. One side of the ravine was a rocky cliff face and in it were dozens and dozens and dozens of holes which some of the Lear's macaws lived in, while on the other side, a sandstone cliff face was present. It too, was dotted by Lear's macaws who made their homes in holes in the soft sandstone which they built themselves. There was a grove of trees growing in the middle of the ravine but very few Lear's macaws lived in the hollows of the trees. Most of the trees were licuri palm nut trees but some of the other trees were fruit trees, and Mercury thought he saw a few mangos on two of them, indicating that those trees were mango trees. On one side of the ravine where the light orange sandstone faded to the solid grey rock was an opening which Sunset and Travis deduced led to a cave underground. Flowers and other exotic plants swamped the bottom of the ravine on either side of the stream in which the three waterfalls emptied. It truly was a beautiful sight to behold and it appeared that the Lear's macaws' ravine had more flowers than the Spix macaws' ravine. Rumour had it that most Lear's macaws had a love for anything colourful with flowers being one of them. There were bromeliads, orchids, hibiscus flowers and many others growing in the bottom of the ravine. It was like a secret paradise garden. On the stream's banks, several Lear's macaws dotted the clay spots, consuming clay to help with digestion.
"This is so different to the Spix macaws' ravine," said Mercury in awe, "They have a large pool in the bottom but this has a stream."
"The stream is too shallow for dangerous fish like piranhas to hide in," said Rosalind, "Ever since our ancestors left the colony in the sandstone cliffs in Bahia to look for somewhere else to settle, they chose this spot because it has a sandstone cliff face and its rocky face is dotted with lots and lots of holes and we prefer our nests to be in cliff face holes, though we sometimes use trees as well. Since then, we have lived here for generations."
"How many members of your tribe are there?" asked Travis.
"Around two hundred or more," said Valentino, "About the size of Eduardo, Felipe, Alonso and Soleado's tribes. We have also chosen this spot because it is virtually inaccessible to humans."
He then nodded to the mouth in the rock on the ground next to the sandstone border and said, "That leads to an underground cave. We take refuge in that whenever a forest fire occurs. We took refuge in that during the last fire caused by loggers."
"Interesting," said Mercury.
"I actually thought you would have died," said Sapphire.
"That fire took us by surprise and we lost quite a few individuals," said Waldo. He then shuddered at the memories and said, "It was an inferno, it was. Since then we had been on the alert of loggers, that group of humans that caused the fire in the first place, and also prepared for action should it ever happen again."
Mercury was about to say something about the humans setting up the Lear's tribe's home as part of the sanctuary but based on Valentino's description of how much the Lear's macaws loathed humans, he decided to leave it till later. As the group flew around the ravine, Valentino began to shout out.
"Everybody, look who's returned," shouted the patriarch at the top of his voice so that it echoed around the ravine, "Sapphire is back!"
"She has survived the fire and has returned after so many years," shouted Rosalind. As the group flew past the cliff face hole homes, dozens of teal green tinged faces with yellow-orange eye rings and beak lappets peered out from the holes while some that were flying also saw the group as it flew past. Valentino then led the group to his hole in the far end of the ravine. It had a large tree close to it and there was also a rocky ledge which Valentino and Rosalind stood on before flying out or entering the rocky hollow. On either side of the entrance to Valentino and Rosalind's hole were a cluster of brightly coloured flowers growing in some dips filled with soil. Dozens of other ledges leading to many of the other Lear's macaws' rocky cliff face holes also had pits filled with soil and flowers. As the group touched down on this ledge, Valentino nodded to the other Lear's macaws that had accompanied him to dismiss them. The Lear's macaws then scattered, leaving only Mercury, Sapphire, Phoebe, Annette, Jasmine, Waldo and Alejandro standing with the cockatoo family.
"Right, now that we're in our home," said Valentino, "We're going to do the following. We're going to find you, Sapphire, and your family a hole in the cliff face, either a rocky hole or one in the sandstone face, or a tree hollow to live in…"
"Tree or cliff face hole it doesn't matter," said Sapphire.
"I have never stayed in a cliff face hole before," said Mercury, "But I am willing to try it."
"And then I'm going to train Murphy here how to survive in the jungle," said Valentino.
"It's Mercury," said Mercury.
"Whatever," said Valentino. He then smiled at Sapphire and said, "But first…"
But before he could say whatever he had on mind, someone shouted, "Sapphire!"
At this, Sapphire turned and saw a bulky male macaw look at her in shock and awe from a tree.
"Is it really you?" said the bulky macaw and with that he flew over to her.
"Archie?" gasped Sapphire in shock. When the two met, they embraced in a hug. When they broke the hug, Archie, the macaw's name, looked at Sapphire and smiled.
"I can't believe you're alive," he said, "Did you survive that fire? If so, how did you manage to fend for yourself out there?"
"It's a long story," said Sapphire. Archie smiled and hugged her again. Mercury looked on in wonder as did Travis and Sunset.
"It's good to have you back," Archie said during the hug. After he broke the hug, Valentino came in and patted the rather bulky macaw on the back. Archie was quite burly, like Jupiter. He had green eyes and a short feather ruffle on the back of his head.
"Heh, how's my new patroller and Pit of Doom team member?" asked Valentino with a smile.
"Pit of Doom?" repeated Mercury.
"It's a crater in which soccer wars between two tribes take place," said Waldo, "The walls of the crater serve as stands and the space above the pool is the stadium. The aim of the game is to shoot a ball into the opposing team's goal. We use it to settle disputes without fighting. We've had matches against those green macaw menaces several times before in that Pit."
"It seems confusing to play soccer to resolve disputes but at least it's not actually a fighting war," said Mercury.
"We actually do fight but not with talons or beaks," said Alejandro. Archie then smiled at Valentino and Rosalind.
"I'm just fine, thanks," he said, "I'm ready for the next patrolling task when you're ready."
"I'll see to that once we've had a celebratory dance," said Valentino.
"Oh, brilliant," said Archie with a smile. He then turned to Sapphire and said, "Would you like to dance with me to 'Elegant Navy Birds in the Glorious Jungle'?"
Sapphire, at this, looked from Archie to Mercury and then back to Archie.
"As much as I'd love to, Archie but…" she replied, "I already have a mate and I don't want to imply that I'm cheating on him by dancing with you."
Sapphire then turned to look at Mercury and said, "I would rather dance with him like how Venus danced with Zephyr during the Spix tribe's 'Beautiful Creatures' dance."
"Zephyr and Brisa?" repeated Waldo, "Have they returned as well?"
"We were told by the Spix macaws that Eduardo's daughter Jewel had returned," said Alejandro.
"They have survived the fire alongside Ruby and Chiquitita from the red tribe," said Mercury, "Orquidea from the blue-and-gold macaw tribe, Cobalto from the blue-throated macaw clan, Ultramarine from the Navyfeather hyacinth Clan, and Esmeralda from the green macaw tribe."
"Esmeralda?" repeated Archie. Then his face turned sour. "Oh, that great green macaw's an utter brat, honestly. If I ever see that brat again, I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind."
Mercury, at this, was about to retort but then Archie interrupted.
"But that's not important," said Archie, his anger and hatred for Esmeralda cooled off, "Let's get prepared to dance to our theme song."
He then looked at Sapphire and said, "But if you don't want to dance with me… then that's your choice. After all, I cannot dictate your choices."
"Thank you," said Sapphire. Then Archie flew away to prepare to start the song up. However, Sapphire did not see Archie look back at Mercury with a slightly envious look tinting his eyes.
"So, is there any makeup we have to wear for this dance?" asked Mercury.
"There is, yes," said Valentino. He then turned to Waldo and said, "Waldo, can you show Murphy the plants we wear for the dance please?"
"Sure," said Waldo.
"It's Mercury," snapped Mercury with an irritated frown. He then huffed and followed Waldo. Then Rosalind prepared to fly off to prepare to dance.
"You know something, the last time I had ever heard of the tribe's song was when I was a chick," said Sapphire, "But I had only learned to fly back then."
"Well, you'll be able to dance with us for the first time," said Rosalind as she flew off, "And I'm sure your three daughters would love to join."
At this, Annette, Phoebe and Jasmine jumped up and down excitedly. Then suddenly, the air in the Lear's macaws' ravine was filled with whistling, the introduction of the song. Alejandro was alerted by the music.
"Oh, we'd better get ready," he said, "The song's starting up."
And with that he flew away to look for some plants. Valentino, Jasmine, Annette and Phoebe also flew off, leaving only Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa standing on the ledge.
"Well, looks like the show's going to be as good as the Spix macaws' dance," said Travis.
"Absolutely," said Sunset.
"But what about the glaucous macaws?" asked Rosa, "Are we going to help find them too?"
At this, Travis slapped a wing on his forehead.
"Man, I almost forgot about that," said the sulfur-crested cockatoo, "Thanks for reminding me, Rosa." He then looked into the ravine space and said, "But first, let's watch the Lear's macaws dance. I can't wait to see Mercury in the air."
Then the cockatoo family turned and watched the air as it began to fill up with navy blue birds. The whistling songs were played by some of the Lear's macaw tribe members blowing into some hollow sticks. They appeared to have carved holes into the hollow tubes so that they would be used as flutes. Near them, some other macaws were playing makeshift drums. These drums were made from hollowed out tree stumps and fruit shells with flat leaves stretched over the opening so that when struck, they made a percussive sound. While these instrument playing macaws blew into the stick-flutes and beating on the drums, in the air, Lear's macaws were forming patterns. Like the Spix macaws, they wore a special paint for their dance but instead of just flower and fruit paint like the Spix macaws, the Lear's macaws also wore interwoven flowers of bright colours. The males wore yellow fruit paint on their faces and had flower chains around their necks like necklaces while the females wore flower chains also around their necks in addition to one on their heads. However, they did not wear facial makeup. These flower decorations were constantly replaced and since there were flowers aplenty in the Lear's macaws' home, the Lear's macaws did not worry about flowers running short.
As the ravine's air filled with dancing Lear's macaws as they sung the first lines, Waldo gave Mercury some yellow fruit and a string of interwoven flowers.
"Here," he said, "For the dance, we males wear this yellow fruit paint on our faces and these necklaces around our necks."
"Do the females wear fruit paint too?" asked Mercury, "I know the female Spix macaws wear yellow pollen."
"No they don't," said Waldo, "Only flower necklaces and one on their heads. Hurry, the song's starting."
And with that, he flew off and landed about a metre away to paint his face. Mercury shrugged and then painted his face yellow with the fruit paint before putting the ring of flowers over his head like a necklace. Elsewhere, Valentino, Alejandro and Archie also decorated their faces with more yellow fruit paint and put a necklace of flowers each on while Sapphire, Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette, together with some other female macaws including Flora put on flower necklaces each and a flower on their heads as well. Phoebe chose a light blue flower while Annette chose a yellow flower and Jasmine chose a pink flower. Then as soon as they were ready, the Lear's macaws all took off as the tribe erupted into song. As the tribe members sung the first chorus, four lines of Lear's macaws spiralled upward through a large ring formed by some more Lear's macaws and emerging from the helical spiral, Sapphire emerged and began dancing aerially. Other Lear's macaws including Waldo joined in and together, the group did elaborate areal acrobats in sync.
"Mercury, where are you?" asked Sapphire as she looked around. Mercury, who was hovering just outside the wide ring of dancing Lear's macaws, looked around for Sapphire.
"Sapphire?" he called, "Sapphire?"
He then turned and saw her in the inner ring of Lear's macaws and flew straight over to her. As he attempted to enter the ring, he got whacked by two navy blue wings. Recovering, he managed to enter the ring and tried to mimic the dance moves of the other macaws. However, like how Venus was to 'Beautiful Creatures', Mercury was new to 'Elegant Navy Birds in the Glorious Jungle', and his first attempts were rather clumsy and out of sync. However, the part of the song came where the Lear's macaws were supposed to find a partner to dance in an arranged pattern. As Mercury continued struggled to try and mimic the moves of the other macaws, a navy wing appeared grabbed his wing and pulled him. At first, Mercury gasped but was relieved to see it was Sapphire. He smiled as he gazed into her sapphire blue eyes and began to dance with her. Around the couple, other Lear's macaw couples were also dancing in arranged patterns. The outer ring now had macaw couples dancing in a ring around the inner macaws. While the macaws danced and the instrument players continued playing their instruments, Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Rosa and Milo watched from a tree.
"Their dance is quite different from the Spix macaws' 'Beautiful Creatures' then," said Sunset as she awed the elegant dance moves of the Lear's tribe members. Eustace, Rosa and Milo just sat by their parents' sides, not wanting to join in with the Lear's macaws after what happened last time with their attempt to join the Spix macaws during their dance. They were especially embarrassed that Travis and Sunset still tittered about it whenever they talked about their humiliatingly futile attempts to mimic the Spix macaws' moves. As Sunset listened to the beat and lyrics, she realised that the theme of the song was about the Lear's macaws themselves and their love of the jungle and the wild similar to how the Spix tribe's theme song, 'Beautiful Creatures' was about the Spix macaws and their freedom in the jungle. The song also celebrated the Lear's macaws' thriving in the Amazon jungle and their love of colour.
"Look at Mercury," said Travis. At this, Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa followed Travis's pointed wing and saw Mercury as he danced with Sapphire. Mercury was a very agile macaw and while he was capable of flying very fast and agilely through a cluttered environment, he was also able to pull off a complicated sequence of moves in quick succession. He did just that with Sapphire and moved in perfect sync with her.
"Sapphire taught him how to dance like that before our New Year's Eve party back in Rio," said Sunset with a smile.
"He's just as good as Venus," said Travis. Then four rows of Lear's macaws began to descend towards the stream below. Unlike the spinning and descending the Spix macaws made, the Lear's macaw rows spiralled around each other as they flew towards the ravine floor and the stream. The two helices formed by the four rows of Lear's macaws resembled a DNA backbone. In the air, the remaining Lear's macaws continued to dance in concentric rings as those flying in the helical row patterns, after flying close to the stream's surface, flew back up again, but in straight rows. Next, the Lear's macaws began to perform the most complicated and co-ordinated dance sequence Travis and his family had ever seen. In fact, the pattern reminded the cockatoos of a human thing called a kaleidoscope. Using co-ordination and synchronised movement, the Lear's macaws spun around each other in toward and out of the concentric rings. This dance sequence required the macaws to spin with some other macaws while proceeding in towards the circle's centre before making their way back out again. From the flock of navy blue birds, Travis picked out Mercury. He appeared to be struggling with this sequence but he did manage to somewhat dance in sync with the other macaws. Then after the kaleidoscope pattern, the macaws arranged themselves in simpler concentric rings and continued dancing. In the middle, Mercury, Sapphire, Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette were dancing together while the other macaws danced in concentric rings expanding outward. This dance sequence was similar to the Spix macaws' 'Beautiful Creatures' but the macaws rotated the rings. The outermost ring rotated in one direction while the next outermost ring rotated the opposite direction. This pattern repeated until it reached the centre. The macaws in the rings also pulled off complicated moves while singing to the song. Then after the macaws had reached the end of the song, they suddenly exploded outward like a supernova of navy blue birds and Travis, Sunset and their chicks saw flowers rain down from the talons of the female macaws, followed by cheering. Within moments, it was all over.
At this moment in time, in the green macaws' territory, Uranus, Esmeralda, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon had also just finished dancing to the green macaw tribe's theme dance, 'We Are Green Macaws Living in the Green Jungle'. The green macaw tribe was led by Alonso and his mate Verde and like the red macaw tribe which consisted of two very similar species of macaw (scarlet and green-winged), the green macaw tribe consisted of two very similar species of green macaws, military and great green. Military macaws were smaller than the great green macaws but other than the difference in size, the two macaws looked very similar and both had green feathers, yellow wing and tail undersides, blue wings, sometimes lower backs, red foreheads, and red and blue tails as well as some white skin around their eyes and faces. For the dance, male great green and military macaws wore orange fruit paint over parts of their faces and wingtips, exactly like how the female Spix macaws wore yellow follower pollen over their faces and wingtips for 'Beautiful Creatures', and the females wore yellow flower pollen on their faces. However, they did not colour their wingtips like the males did. The green tribe's home was a large cluster of trees, some of them tall kapok trees, growing around a large bolder and a stony ledge. A stream ran through the green tribe's habitat and there were dozens and dozens of flower patches scattered around the habitat. When Esmeralda and her family met the green macaw tribe, Esmeralda had reunited with some of her childhood friends, among them Amelia, Coco and twin brothers Lewin and Luis, four of Esmeralda's closest chick-hood friends. Like how the Lear's macaws had celebrated Sapphire's return and the Spix macaws for Jewel and then Zephyr and Brisa, the green macaws had also celebrated Esmeralda's return. The other macaw tribes and clans had also done the same with the other macaws' return: the Navyfeather Clan with Ultramarine, the Bluewing Clan and the blue-throated macaw for Cobalto, the blue-and-gold macaw tribe for Orquidea, and the red macaw tribe for Ruby and Chiquitita. Both Alonso and Verde were great green macaws like Uranus and his family. Both had stocky builds and Alonso had blue eyes while Verde had dark green eyes. Both macaws also had feather ruffles behind their heads. Verde's was wavy while Alonso had a short sheet of feathers behind his head. Like every other great green and military macaw, both macaws were green, blue, yellow and red. Alonso's blue parts (wing flight feathers and parts of his tail and lower back) were maya blue while Verde's was azure like Esmeralda's though she was not related to her. The rest of their tails and foreheads were red. As Esmeralda and her family flew with Alonso and Verde, still dressed in the tribe dance makeup (Esmeralda, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel and Titania and Verde with yellow flower pollen on their faces and Uranus, Oberon and Alonso with orange fruit paint on their wingtips and faces), back to Alonso and Verde's hollow, Alonso was impressed with Uranus who looked a little humiliated and embarrassed.
"You did well for a beginner," he said, "Despite moving out of sync a lot with the other dancers."
"We'll have to teach you our tribe song's dance moves at some point," said Esmeralda.
"Well, at least I tried," said Uranus. The group then landed on the branch leading to Alonso and Verde's hollow and cleaned their faces of the paint.
"Didn't I tell you that Zephyr, Brisa, Orquidea, Chiquitita, Ruby, Ultramarine, Cobalto and Sapphire had returned?" asked Esmeralda with a smile.
"No, you didn't," said Verde, "We were told that Jewel, Eduardo's daughter had returned a few days ago but we hadn't heard any news about the other missing macaws that we thought died in the fire."
"When we heard that our enemies, the Lear's macaws, had lost quite a few members including a female macaw named Sapphire," said Alonso, "I was horrified even though those dark navy blue birds are a menace."
He then looked at Verde with a frown and continued, "I'm thinking about sending some patrols to the Lear's/green border at the camu-camu fruit grove to keep an eye on any Lear's macaws that come near the border to pick some camu-camu fruit and to make sure that they don't get up to mischief."
"I think that's a good idea, dear," said Verde, distaste tinging in her voice, "We don't want any of those navy blue brats frolicking in our patch. They should stay within theirs while we stay in ours."
"Aren't the flying foxes more trouble than those navy blue birds?" asked Esmeralda, hiding the fact that she was now one of Sapphire's friends and to distract the leaders from thoughts about the Lear's macaw tribe a bit. Uranus almost made a face but stifled it. Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon also exchanged glances as they thought about Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette, and Mercury and Sapphire.
"Well those bats haven't bothered us for the past few years since we made that truce with them to keep our members within our boundaries," said Alonso, "So they're not much of a worry to us at the moment. However, that patriarch of theirs, Cicatriz, is a psycho."
"I have never met those bats before," said Uranus, "What does Cicatriz look like?"
Verde turned to him with a dark look on her face.
"He's a savage piece of work, that furball," she growled in a low voice, bitter hatred in her tone, "Alonso and I had only met him once and believe me, his appearance is hideous."
"He, along with almost every other flying fox in that colony including his equally psychotic mate Iracebeth is covered in scars," said Alonso, "Obtained from viciously fighting birds. Cicatriz is also blind in his right eye, a consequence of his vicious fight with a festive amazon parrot when he was young."
Uranus flinched at the thought of a bat like Cicatriz fighting a parrot coming out blind in his right eye.
"Is fighting birds always a thing with that colony?" he asked.
"They despise us birds and see us as vermin," said Alonso, "It is one of the colony's teachings about us. Why, none of us know but those bats bring up their pups in that teaching and also train them to fight against us."
"It seems quite dangerous for a flying creature whose wings are membranes to fight flying creatures armed with beaks and talons," said Uranus.
"It has happened that colony members have suffered damaged wing membranes which is not uncommon or injury" said Verde darkly, "Anyway, let's just forget those bats and focus on the more important things and that is finding you a tree to live in and training you, Uranus."
"And also sending some patrols to the camu-camu fruit grove to keep an eye on any Lear's macaws that go there to pick the fruit and make sure they are not causing trouble which I'm going to do first," said Alonso and with that, he flew off to set up some patrol groups. Uranus looked on as he left.
"Those Lear's macaws surely mean no harm when they come to the camu-camu fruit grove, right?" he asked, "They're only going there to pick fruit."
"That camu-camu fruit grove is the only grove of camu-camu fruits we have in our territories," explained Verde, "There are other camu-camu fruit bushes but they're deep within the territories of the other macaw tribes and clans and we don't want to steal from them. And because we have a territorial and foraging dispute with the Lear's macaws, we have set up a territorial truce due to a shortage of camu-camu fruits. We will not tolerate Lear's macaws on our side of the grove while they won't tolerate us on their side."
"It's just like the red macaws' conflict with the Spix macaws over the Brazil nut grove," said Uranus.
"They have made peace now after the fight against the loggers," said Esmeralda. Verde made a surprised look.
"The reds and the Spix's have made peace?" she said surprised, "But… those two tribes have been in conflict for years since the Spix macaws moved into that ravine."
"Not anymore," said Uranus, "We've been told that the red tribe had participated in the battle against the loggers with the Spix and had become friends."
"The Spix and red macaws' territories, together with those of the blue-and-gold tribe and the two hyacinth macaw clans and the Bluewings' co-inhabitants, the blue-throated macaw clan are now included in part of the sanctuary set up by some humans," said Esmeralda.
"What, Eduardo, Felipe, Soleado and those four clan leaders have allowed humans to set up their homes as a protected reserve!?" snapped Verde incredulously.
"It's true, Verde," said Uranus, his wings around Miranda and Oberon and Titania, Ariel and Umbriel flanking him, "Eduardo's tribe is extremely rare and possibly the only flock of their species in the whole world. Reynaldo's clan of blue-throated macaws are also quite rare."
"The purpose is to protect the habitats of those macaws and other inhabitants from the devastation of logging and poaching," said Esmeralda, "Logging especially since it destroys the habitat of a lot of animals."
"And what I hope now is that the green macaws' territory and the territory of the Lear's macaws are…" began Uranus but Verde cut him off.
"Not a chance," snapped the green tribe matriarch, "We don't trust humans at all. They're nothing but destructive pests."
She turned to Uranus and said, "You just get prepared for training with Alonso while you," she turned to Esmeralda, "Get prepared to find a tree for you and your mate and five chicks to live in. I don't wanna hear any more about humans, understood?"
And with that, Verde entered her and Alonso's hollow to check a clutch of eggs she had just recently laid. Besides finding Uranus and his family a tree of their own to live in, Verde had recently laid a clutch of two eggs and wanted to make sure that they did not go too cold. Uranus and Esmeralda looked at each other.
"Did you know that we're the only flock in Brazil to have great green macaws?" she asked.
"No, why?" asked Uranus.
"Great green macaws alone are only known to live in Central America," said Esmeralda, "And the military macaw is predominantly found on the far west of northern parts of South America, so it's important that our tribe and the Lear's macaws are included in the sanctuary because we are vulnerable to logging. Even though the Spix and red macaws and some of the other animals had driven the loggers away, that would not stop them from trying to take trees from our habitat."
"It's going to be difficult to convince Verde and Alonso about that," murmured Uranus, "And I think Mercury and Sapphire will also be struggling to convince the Lear's macaw tribe leaders the same thing."
"Not to mention the enmity the greens have with the Lear's," said Esmeralda with a concerned look on her face. She then made a sombre and doubtful look when a thought about Mercury and Sapphire came into her head. "It's not going to be easy for us, I can tell you."
Uranus sighed.
Back in the Lear's macaws' territory, the Lear's macaw tribe had returned to its usual activities. It was now lunch time and Lear's macaw parents were out foraging for food to bring back to their mates and chicks waiting in their nests. Mercury, Sapphire, Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette were eating some mango fruit with Sunset, Travis, Eustace, Rosa and Milo. Mercury had picked some mango fruit from one of the mango trees residing in the Lear's tribe's ravine. Valentino and Rosalind, meanwhile, were setting up patrol groups to send out and keep an eye on the group of human intruders still walking around in their habitat. Mercury, while eating a mango, raised his head and looked in the Lear's tribe leaders' direction when he heard Valentino say, "Make sure that you keep a close eye on those human intruders and report back to me everything you observe, including their plans and where they go. Understood?"
The patrollers nodded and then Valentino began to send them away a few at a time.
"I wonder how Esmeralda, Uranus and their five chicks are doing in the green tribe's home," he said in a low voice to Sapphire, "I just hope that when those humans find more proof of this flock's existence and include it in Tulio and Linda's sanctuary, they'll do the same for the green macaws'."
"The green tribe is vulnerable to habitat loss to loggers and poaching intrusions, though," said Sapphire as she ate another piece of mango. Suddenly, Phoebe and Jasmine began to bicker over another piece of mango.
"That's MY piece, sis," shouted Phoebe, pulling the piece out of Jasmine's wings.
"No, it's mine!" snapped Jasmine and pulled the mango piece back out of Phoebe's wings. Then the two began to squabble and continue to pull the mango piece out of each other's wings. At this, Sapphire turned and began to break up the quarrel.
"Girls, girls!" she shouted, before going to the two sisters and snatching the mango piece out of their wings. "We shall have no fighting over food, alright?"
As she held the mango piece, Phoebe and Jasmine looked up at her. Annette just sat nearby quietly, eating her piece of mango. Then after Phoebe and Jasmine had calmed down, Sapphire then divided the mango piece the two sisters fought over by biting through it with her beak and then handed each half to Phoebe and Jasmine.
"There," said Sapphire firmly as the two sisters began to eat the two separate pieces, "At least this will stop you both quarrelling."
Phoebe and Jasmine continued eating the two pieces and from here on to the end of lunch, there was no more quarrelling. Sunset rolled her eyes.
"Before our three hybrid chicks learned to fly," she said, "They often squabbled over food and toys. It took us a lot of effort and patience to break up any quarrels our chicks had."
Mercury and Sapphire turned and saw Eustace, Milo and Rosa eat their mango pieces without too much arguing.
"And plenty of discipline," added Travis as he threw away the mango core, "But since our chicks had learned to fly; they had learned to share their food without quarrelling with each other."
"I wonder how Saturn, Orquidea, Zephyr and Venus had to manage with their enormous broods whenever a quarrel would break out amongst their kids," said Mercury.
"Brisa would have probably helped out with Zephyr and Venus," said Sapphire, "While Saturn and Orquidea had Neptune and Ultramarine's assistance since the hyacinth macaw couple only had two chicks."
"But we seemed to have managed quite well with our three daughters," said Mercury, "And so have Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Ceres and Pluto with their respective mates Chiquitita, Ruby, Cobalto and Lapis Lazuli with their chicks as their broods weren't as big."
"Oh, that reminds me," said Travis, "We've…"
Before he could finish, Valentino returned to the group. He had finished sending out the patrol groups.
"Right, that's the patrol group organising task finished," he said, "Now for the next task."
He turned to Mercury and asked, "Have you finished your lunch, Merlin?"
"Yes, I have," said Mercury as he swallowed the last piece of the mango and threw away the cores. At this, he shot Valentino an irritated glare when he realised that the patriarch had got his name wrong again.
"It's Mercury," he said.
"Whatever your name is," said Valentino much to Mercury's irritated eye-roll. "Anyway, it's time for your training. We'll start on the sessions requiring less strenuous exercise since it is not recommended to perform strenuous tasks like flight agility after you've eaten."
"What am I going to learn about first?" asked Mercury.
"I'm going to give you the tour of our territory first and what groves we have," said Valentino, "And then we're going to work on trap escape as our first session once your meal has settled."
"Sounds good," said Mercury excitedly. Then Travis scooped away the leftovers from the mango meal from Eustace, Rosa and Milo after they had eaten their fill and tossed them away. Sunset continued eating her last piece of mango.
"And as for us," said Travis after he brushed his wings of the mango juice, "We're going to explore the place."
"Well if you're going to do that, Trevor, make sure you watch out for any predatory birds that may be flying around," said Valentino, "And also watch that you don't stray too near the Lear's/green boundary. It is to the north of here."
"Okay, we'll try," said Travis. However, deep down he knew he had to visit the green tribe at some point because of Uranus and his family but due to the Lear's macaws' attitude towards the green macaws; he didn't want to unintentionally stir up trouble. Then after Sunset had finished her final piece of mango and had thrown the core away, Travis clapped his wings together.
"Right, kids," he said to Eustace, Milo and Rosa, "Are we ready?"
"Yeah," shouted Eustace, Rosa and Milo simultaneously.
"When you are, dear," said Sunset. Then Travis prepared to take off.
"Right, let's go," he said, "And remember kids, stick by our sides at all times and don't wander off!"
"Exactly, children," added Sunset, "The last thing we want is searching for you in this infinite maze."
And with that, the five cockatoos took off.
"Have fun, Travis and Sunset, cockatoo kids," shouted Sapphire.
"And make sure you keep away from the group of intruding humans as well," shouted Valentino as the sulfur-crested cockatoo, Major Mitchell's cockatoo and their three hybrid chicks disappeared out of sight and flew out of earshot. Then Mercury stepped forward.
"Right, I'm ready, Valentino," he said.
"Good, follow me, please," said Valentino. Before he took off, he turned to Sapphire and the three sisters.
"Wait here for Rosalind, Sapphire," he said, "She'll help you to find a nest."
Sapphire nodded. And with that, Valentino flew off. Mercury gave Sapphire and his daughters a hug before leaving.
"Have fun, dear," said Sapphire with a kiss on his cheek. Then Mercury departed after the patriarch and soon, the two Lear's macaws vanished, and Sapphire, Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette were left standing on the ledge waiting for Rosalind to return. Then as soon as Rosalind had done so after sending out the last patrol group, she smiled to Sapphire and her daughters.
"Right, are we ready, Sapphire?" she asked.
"We are," said Sapphire as Phoebe, Annette and Jasmine jumped up and down excitedly on the spot.
"Good, now let's look for a hole for you to move in," said Rosalind and with that, she flew off with Sapphire and her daughters in tow.