Ave De Muchos Colores

Blue. Yellow. Red. There were other colors of course, all flashing through the air and in the trees. They seemed to both catch the light and reflect it, turning the forest into a kaleidoscope all around the man in the clearing. He stood there, transfixed by the sight of so many Macaws. The cacophony of their intertwining songs filled the jungle around him, providing a unique music that could not possibly be replicated anywhere else. The humidity was a heavy stifling blanket, but the man couldn't care less. He smiled. Oh, yes. This would do. The amount of money he would bring in from the capture of so many of the birds… he started to sweat harder just thinking about it. The man broke off back through the thick foliage in the direction he had come from, struggling not to get caught on every single snag along the way. His boss would be very happy indeed.

* The small boat that currently held Raymond and his crew, the “Marea Tranquila” bounced in a methodical pattern across the choppy waves. In the distance, the largest of four islands was fast approaching. However, this largest island, “Diente Grande,” (named after the large toothlike mountain jutting towards the sky) was not the designated area. The team would be shooting for the second largest of the island group, “Ave de Muchos Colores,” or the “Bird of Many Colors.” The islands had been named by the locals, one of whom was the man guiding the boat.

There, they would find the largest concentration of the Macaws out of any of the islands, although they were only separated by mere miles from one another. The islands formed a diamond shape of sorts if drawn on a map, with Ave de Muchos Colores being in the back of the formation in reference to the nearby coast. Raymond felt giddy with excitement as they rounded the edge of Diente Grande, bringing Colores into sight. This was an unparalleled chance to study the amazing birds, in habitats that had remained largely untouched through most of their existence.

The locals had a reverence for the highly intelligent Macaws, whose habitation of the area created a significant impact on not only the vitality of the islands, but to the stretch of coast that they encompassed as well. Grinning, Raymond looked behind him at the three others, excited to share in the moment with them. The two women sitting next to him, Annaliese and Erika, were both wildlife biologists. They had met at school together, and as all three were pursuing the same career closely involved in ornithology (the study of birds), they had seen a lot of one another.

Eventually realizing they had had much of the same interests, they had become close friends in a short manner of time. Now they were in the middle of a chance of a lifetime, making full use of their specialities a short time out of college. The fourth of their group was a man named Jake who was sitting by the captain. He was their photographer, who especially loved capturing the image of exotic birds. They were lucky to have him.

The spray from the breaking waves misted about them, the ever present smell of the sea strengthening at such times. The wind tugged gently across his face and through his hair, cooling the sun overhead. The water had the appearance of rippling glass, and to the sides of the boat he could see the wildlife of the shallows darting about. They had already seen a couple of turtles, as well as several species of shark and stingray. Overfishing was not an issue here, or at least not yet, so he enjoyed as much of the unmolested landscape as possible. Within several minutes they were at the border of the island, its rock and sand shore kissing the keel of the boat as their guide eased up to it.

The island was stretched several miles in each direction, with three hills that occupied the innermost section. The thick treeline made up of genip, coconut, and several other varieties interwoven with one another. The crew got out of the little vessel and handed the local currency to their guide, grabbing all of their effects as they did so. They restated the time that evening that they wished to be picked up, and he was off, skipping back across the tranquil waves. It was about three o’clock in the afternoon according to his watch, which meant that they only had a couple of hours today.

After a quick rundown of what they hoped to accomplish that day, which didn’t have to be much since they were going to be in the area for two weeks, they started to walk towards the treeline.

“I can’t hear much.” Annaliese said with a frown, her hispanic accent evident in the tones of her voice. “Shouldn’t it be a lot louder? That’s what the locals had said, right?” They all stopped, cocking their heads sideways for a better listen. Raymond realized she was right. There wasn’t much sound coming from ahead, much less enough noise for a pandemonium of Macaws.

“I don’t hear much of anything.” Jake agreed, readjusting the camera strap over his shoulder.

“Maybe we just can’t hear it because they’re closer to the center. Plus these waves could be drowning out some sound too.” Raymond was sure that had to be it. “Come on!” He almost started running forward out of eagerness. “Imagine we make a Darwin-level discovery out here!” He mused, as they had done many times before. To make it big in this field they’d have to, so of course they always spent some time on the “maybes,” however small of a chance. Erika rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything as she followed right behind him, always the cynic.

Raymond chose what looked like the easiest path through the tangled webb of underbrush and vines and led the way. As soon as they were through the initial line of trees, the humidity hit them like a brick. Its stifling presence made it slightly more difficult to breathe, and Raymond’s clothes immediately felt sticky. The sky had its fair share of clouds, but the sunlight that got trapped below the canopy didn’t help the heat. But he was used to it by now, as this was not his first expedition into these types of climates. That, and growing up in Florida. As they wound their way through to get closer to the center, his eyes almost never left the trees above. Looking for any sign of color, as he knew the rest of the group behind him were doing as well.

A sense of unease quickly grew in the pit of his stomach with every step they took. He looked back at the group to see if they were feeling the same way, which he assumed by their faces that they were. It seemed as though the island was dying. The vegetation was sparse the farther they moved in, much more so than it should have been. There were several areas where clearings opened up abruptly, where there should have been a continuation of forest. “This is so strange,” he whispered to himself. As an hour passed, the group remained silent. A sense of frustration seemed to be building up in the group, as with every step they noticed nothing new of the surrounding vegetation, other than the lack of it.

“Okay.” Erika said, breaking the silence. “Normally I wouldn’t say this is weird, but with the amount of birds that are reported to be here, it’s kind of strange that we haven’t seen anything. And the environment doesn't look healthy.” Nobody disagreed.

“I hope nothing like a disease came through.” Annaliese remarked. The thought struck them all like hammers to their chests. If disease had wiped out most of the population… That would mean their two week stay would be practically for nought. But more importantly, the Macaw (especially the Hyacinth, which was the majority population on the island) was already on the edge of extinction. Deforestation and illegal selling were huge contributors to that. Horrible stuff, all of it. Not only did it affect the Macaws, but most of the other species that lived in those areas as well.

“Let's keep it moving. We might be overthinking this.” Raymond tightened the straps on his backpack, and pushed onward. He wiped the sweat from his brow, and made straight for the first of the hills. It took them several more minutes to reach the base of the hill, where they stopped at a small clearing. “Let's sit down for a second, and figure out where we’re ganna go from here.” They all decided that they would try and climb the hill and work around it, where the trees were thinned out. After some water and a couple snacks, Erika took the lead and Raymond and the others followed. Once they had reached the halfway point of the hill and were glassing the surrounding tree lines, Raymond saw something. A flash of blue, nothing like any vegetation.

“There!” He exclaimed, shouting as quietly as he could with his excitement. Sure enough, about a third of the way up on an almond tree, in a basketball sized hole, there sat two Macaws. The tree was a hundred feet away, but with their observation equipment it was easy to set up and watch. Jake had begun taking photos the moment of the realization, setting up for every different angle and use of light that he could. After several minutes of watching, they realized that it was a nest, and there were little ones inside. The couple, who were most likely mated for life, took turns going in and out of the nest, while nudging up against one another. The intelligence of their eyes was plain to see, even from the distance they were at.

Now that they were close, they could hear the birds occasionally let loose a call, although it was never loud. The group looked at one another, and Raymond could barely contain his excitement. Hopefully there were many more nests like these as they got right to the center. He was still concerned that there were many fewer than thought to be, but was just happy to observe the beautiful creature. Every now and then the parents would leave, presumably to gather some more food, but were never gone for long.

Raymond was watching as the two birds were both facing towards the opening, fussing over their chicks, when; SNAP! With a cracking noise, Raymond watched as a net appeared out of nowhere, enveloping both of the birds, and knocking them off of their perch. They both gave a loud screech, and frantically tried to flap their wings on the way down. He stared where they had been, unable to comprehend what had just happened. “Haha!” A laugh rang out from around the base of the tree. From their vantage point, they sat about parallel to the middle of the tree, and it was hard to see the bottom.

However he could just see where the Macaws had fallen, still screeching and clawing at the net. “Shut up!” he first heard, then saw as the man came around some undergrowth and into their sights. He picked up the net by a string that hung off of the side, and carried the birds upside down in a different direction, yelling presumably at someone in the distance. The group stared at one another, slack jawed and bewildered expressions all around. Before they could even talk, a voice cut over the still air once again.

“They have to have babies in there! Cut it down!” This was followed by the noise from a chainsaw, which was incredibly loud upon the silent surroundings.

“No!” Shouted Annaliese, starting forward, rolling up her sleeves. Raymond caught her before she could take too many steps, giving away their location.

“No,” he said in her ear, and pulling back a couple of steps. “These aren’t the type of people we can be caught by, especially out here alone.” His throat felt tight with anger. He wanted to march down there with her, and do something about the injustice. But what would they do? The men probably had weapons. They were poachers, and those weren’t people you wanted to piss off. She turned on him, eyes watery, presumably due to frustration.

“We can’t just stand here and do nothing! Those monsters have to pay! It all makes sense now!” She started to pace. Raymond was glancing around nervously, making sure no one else was around them. The other two in the group still looked shocked, wide eyed and watching the two of them. “The island is dying because the main inhabitants aren’t here to spread the vegetation. They must have been doing this for a while, because otherwise nothing would have changed yet. There aren't very many people that come out here, so maybe nobody really noticed the rapidly declining population. It’s not a disease. It’s people!” She made a disgusted noise.

Raymond motioned with his hand to keep it down. He doubted whoever had fired up the machine could hear them, or for that matter anyone close to them, but he didn’t want to take any chances. “I know, we need to- Look!” He pointed behind her at the tree, just in time for her to turn around and watch as one of the chicks fell out. Just as it fell, the tree shuddered, and began to tip backwards, with the hole facing up as it fell. They felt the tremble as it struck the ground, and the noise of the chainsaw cut out.

“Perfect!” A voice called out. “There’s three of them!”

“Money!” Another shouted, followed by another laugh. Raymond caught hold of Anneliese, just in case she decided to go down again.

“Wait,” he whispered. “We’ll go when they leave.” They waited for ten minutes, whispering amongst themselves as to how it explained a lot of what had seemed weird to them. After they were sure no one was around, they crept down where the tree had previously stood. As they got close to the trunk, Raymond heard a croak. Confused, he looked down and by his feet, there sat the baby Macaw. He gasped and knelt by the helpless creature, its mottled feathers just retaining a bluish tint. Everyone else exclaimed and knelt with him, looking at the poor thing. It bobbed its head up and down, not quite sure of what to make of them.

“How did it survive?” Asked Jake. Raymond wasn’t sure, but he was so happy to see it, it almost brought a tear to his eye.

“We have to protect it!” Enforced Erika, speaking for the first time. She leaned forward, an extra shirt in her hands, and scooped up the baby. It made signs of protest, but couldn’t do anything within her grip. She held it tight to her chest, looking down and making sounds to soothe it. “Those monsters!” She admonished. “Destroying not only the habitat, but taking the creatures with it… it's wrong. How did we not see them on the way in?” Raymond thought for a second.

“My guess is that they come in on the backside, just in case there are people that are checking out the other islands. It would be harder to see them that way. They probably have a camp out here.” He looked in the direction that they had left in, shaking his head. An idea came to his head. A really stupid one, but he couldn’t help it. He was beyond angry. He mentioned it to the group, and wide eyed they looked at him, concerned.

“That could get us in a lot of trouble.” Annaliese said. “I know I was ready to charge in a couple minutes ago, but you were right. These people don’t mess around, and I’m sure they’re not quick to forgive.

“Not us, just me.” Countered Raymond. “Plus, if it’s not doable I’ll come right back, okay? You guys just go back and wait at the pickup spot. I won’t miss that, I promise.”

“I’m not letting you go by yourself.” Annaliese said, shaking her head. “I’m ganna come with you if you do anything. Two is better than one. Erika, Jake, you guys make sure that our guide doesn't leave without us.” The two of them put up some weak arguments, but Raymond could tell they were relieved not to be going. They hugged one another and then Annaliese and Raymond were off, jogging as fast as they could in the direction the men had went, while being as silent as possible.

It took them the better part of an hour and a half, but once they arrived at their location, sweating and panting, they sat behind some foliage and scouted the poachers camp out. It was at the edge of the forest on the backside of the island, looking out at the blue and green ocean. The sun was directly in their eyes, and from the looks of it they would barely have enough time to get back. They had to do what they meant to, and fast.

“There!” Said Annaliese, pointing at a section of the camp that held ten, twenty, thirty crates? “There’s so many…” she stated, and Raymond nodded his head in agreement. He quickly looked over the rest of the area, but didn’t see the men from earlier. If he had to guess, they were still out.

“There’s enough supplies here for weeks if it's just the two of them.” Raymond pointed out. “They are probably set up for the long term, and someone comes to pick up whatever they caught in a certain amount of time.” He shook his head. Barbaric. “Okay, if we do this, we do it now.” He looked at her, making sure she was ready. She nodded. As fast as they could, they rushed out to the cages, where the birds made sounds of protest when they got close. “Shhhhhh,” he hushed, not wanting to attract the men from wherever they were. “Okay quick!”

They started to undo the cages as fast as they could. Luckily, the birds were not tied up inside, just stuffed within. Sometimes two in one cage, sometimes only one. They got bit a few of the times, but with all of the adrenaline they had, they couldn’t really feel it. Most of the birds were hesitant to come out once the cage was left open, but after a couple of seconds, they took off to the sky. It was a beautiful sight to see, but they had to hurry. They babies, they realized, they couldn’t do much about. They opened the few cages with them inside and scooped them out, pushing them in the direction of the trees. As they got done with the last of the cages, they heard something.

“Hey!” A voice rang out across the otherside of the camp, and they both froze, looking in that direction. Three men came out of the treeline, their faces angry masks. “Stop them!” The same man shouted, pointing at them and red in the face. That was it. No time to waste, they both shot off back the way they had come, running for their lives. They barrelled through the jungle with what little daylight remained. They heard the sounds of pursuit behind them, but never close enough to turn and fight.

As the daylight had almost completely faded out, leaving a dark shadow across the world, they came around some trees and back onto the beach they had landed on. To their immediate relief, Erika and Jake were sitting in the boat, ready to go, their tour guide having angled it out. They must have explained the situation, Raymond thought. Without pausing, the two ran up to the boat and launched themselves in, yelling at the man to gun it. He did without a second's hesitation, and the boat shot off into the fading light.

Raymond looked back at the beach, but it was barely discernible. However, he could just make out two figures, shaking their fists and yelling over the sound of the motor.

“Did you do it?!” Worried Erika, brow furrowing.

“Yeah” he managed to get out, letting the breeze cool him off while desperately trying to get air into his lungs. “We did it.” He paused, thinking. “It’s not a permanent solution, but once we can get a hold of the authorities, we should be able to protect this place.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe we just did that. But I also can’t believe THEY were doing that. They’re such beautiful creatures.” Erika was holding the baby still, and they all admired it for a second. “We’ll set this right.” He said that and they all shook their heads in agreement. What a crazy adventure already, he thought.