Max the Macaw

Max didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit.

Looking up, he watched a group of six bright birds glide overhead. Their red, yellow, and blue wings flapping in perfect unison and their long tail feathers fluttering in the wind.

More than anything in the world, Max wanted to be up in the sky flying with the other Scarlet Macaws. Most of his friends who left their nests the same time he did had already gone on multiple flights. Both short flights and long flights.

But instead, Max was stuck sitting in the same tree that he’d been sitting in for the last 6 days.

All because his sister Claire had left the nest only 2 days ago. Before the family could take a flight together, his folks needed his younger sister to understand the basics of being a Scarlet Macaw. In Max’s opinion…she didn’t seem very good at it.

For one thing, Scarlet Macaws were loud. Their squawks could travel miles. But Claire? Ever since she left the nest, she sounded muted and shy.

Max had a super loud squawk. Even Old Lettybird, said he was a remarkable bird. She said his squawk was the best she’d ever heard. And she’d lived in the Grove for over 40 years!

Max took a moment to practice his squawk and then sang one of his favorite songs:

Look at me! Look at me!

Best darn squawker that you’ll ever see!

He looked around to see if anyone heard him. But his folks were still focused on Claire and teaching her to grab leaves and twigs with her left claw. Just like the squawks, Claire wasn’t any good at it. She kept falling backwards every time she tried to balance on one foot.

Feeling bored, Max spun himself around the branch and hung upside down. “Look mom! One claw!” he yelled holding on with his right foot and waving his left foot in the air.

His parents looked up and Claire laughed at her silly brother.

Look at me! Look at me!

Best darn hanger-up-side-downer that you’ll ever see!

Claire kept giggling but his mom sounded more annoyed. “Max, why don’t you practice your climbing.”

“I’m already really good at that, mom. Watch.”

Using his beak, he grabbed a hold of a tree branch above him and pulled up a bit and then grabbed the next branch with his left foot and then another with his right. Over and over, he did this, climbing up faster and faster.

Once he reached the top, he gave another loud squawk and then sang another song:

Look at me! Look at me!

Best darn climber that you’ll ever see!

He turned to look down at his mom and sister staring up at him.

“You’re amazing Max.” Claire said, her quiet voice filled with awe.

Max’s feathers puffed up a bit at the praise then he leaned forward, spread out his wings and released the branch. With one powerful flap of his wings, he coasted down and with a graceful swoosh landed on the branch next to them.

“Nice landing.” said his father from a nearby branch. “You are really getting the hang of it.”

“Does that mean I can go flying?” Max asked eagerly.

His mother and father gave each other one of those secretive glances and he held his breath waiting for their answer.

“Let’s be patient for a little while longer,” his mother finally said.

Max turned away from his family in a huff and stomped down the branch tearing at leaves on his way.

He heard some commotion behind him as he continued ripping at the leaves and twigs. It was dinner time, so his parents were probably off to find food. I don’t care, he thought glumly. I don’t even want to eat.

He saw his mom fly from the tree and moments later his father hovered in front of him. “Maybe use this time to help your sister instead of just sitting here sulking,” he said calmly. And then with a few powerful flaps of his huge wings, he was gone.

Max couldn’t understand why Claire needed so much help. They were both Scarlet Macaws and he never found any of the lessons hard at all. Why couldn’t she just be normal?

But he realized if he was ever going to fly, he would need his sister to learn. So, he turned himself around and walked back down the branch.

“Alright Claire. Let’s do this.”

Claire looked excited and worried at the same time.

“First things first. Scarlet Macaws need to be loud so we can communicate with each other. Let out your loudest squawk.”

Claire cleared her throat and then chirped a wee squawk.

“Oh, come ON! You can do better than that! Be more confident!” he said trying not to sound annoyed.

Looking worried, she tried again. “squawk.”

If anything, it was even quieter than the first try.

Max looked at his little sister for a long moment. “Okay. Let’s forget that for now. Let’s work on balancing.”

He walked over to a part of the branch that had some small limbs with leaves all over them. “Here’s how it works. When we are eating or foraging, we Scarlet Macaws hold on to the branch we’re standing on with our right claw.”

He looked down toward his right foot.

“This leaves our left claw free to grab berries, nuts, leaves etc.” He held the left claw in the air and then grabbed some leaves and ripped them off the tree.

“When we grab something to eat, we bring it to our beaks.” He brought the leaves toward his beak as if he was going to eat them. Then threw them down. “Understand?”

Claire was listening intently and nodded emphatically. Her admiration for Max was clear.

“Let’s first just have you balance on your right claw.”

She took a deep breath desperate to impress her brother. She tightly gripped the limb with her right claw and carefully held her left foot in the air.

“Okay good!” He said pleased. “Branches won’t always be steady so let’s try a little movement.”

And that’s when it all fell apart.

Once Max began flapping his wings to make the tree branch bounce a little, Claire screeched and started flailing and falling. She quickly grabbed with both claws until she could regain her balance.

“What is so difficult about that!!” he yelled in frustration. “If you can’t do something so simple, mom and dad will never let us fly out of here!”

He turned away from his sister and stormed back down the branch.

After a little while, he heard Claire silently sit down next to him.

“I don’t want to talk Claire.”

“I know,” she replied quietly.

“It’s just not fair.” Max blurted out. “Tara flew to the river and back by herself and she left her nest the day after me!”

“I know,” she replied softly.

Another group of bright Scarlet birds flew overhead and they both watched them fly out of site.

“I’m really sorry Max.”

Max didn’t say anything. He knew she felt bad …. but it didn’t help.

For a little while they sat listening to the loud calls of the Macaws echoing in the mountains. Finally, Claire stood up and quietly made her way back to the center of the tree.

The next morning after breakfast, Max’s parents asked to have a chat with him. He figured he was going to get in trouble, but he was in for a huge surprise.

“I can go?!” he nearly screamed in his excitement. “You’re letting me fly solo!!?”

“Yes, but not too far,” his mom said sounding a little frantic.

“A large group will be heading out to a grove some distance away. Not all the way to the Red Banks yet. But we’ve asked if you can fly along, and they’ve agreed. You will be responsible for yourself. You understand?”

“I do, dad! I totally do!” Max was jumping up and down and flapping his wings with excitement. “When do I leave?”

“You can go next week” his mom said.

At the stunned look of disappointment on Max’s face she smiled and took a deep breath. “I’m teasing. You can leave now.”

With hardly a thought Max squawked his loudest squawk ever, wrapped his wings around first his mom, and then his dad. “Thanks dad” he whispered.

His dad leaned back. “Don’t thank me. It was your sister’s idea.”

Max looked stunned. “Where is she?”

Just then a large flock of Macaws flew next to the tree squawking loudly. “We’re off! Are you coming?”

“YES!” Max screeched.

“Then you better Hurry! Hurry, Hurry!”

“I’m coming!” He replied.

“Goodbye!!” Max yelled to his parents as he eagerly leapt off the branch, spreading his wings wide and flapping with all his might.

His mother’s voice followed him: Be safe! Don’t go too far! Come back soon! We love you!!

As Max circled around a tree he looked down and saw Claire sitting on a branch, eagerly searching the sky. When she spotted him, her eyes lit up for a moment and then changed. He thought they looked sad.

They both knew she wasn’t ready.

They knew she couldn’t go.

So, instead she simply raised her claw and waved goodbye.

And watched him as he flew out of site.

In the first moments of the flight, Max was ecstatic that his dream of flying high in the sky had at last come true! He loved being a part of the huge flock and felt quite grown up.

But it wasn’t too long before he noticed that, although he was desperately trying to keep up with the fast flying Macaws, he was starting to lag behind.

When two particularly graceful birds flew up next to him, he asked, “how fast are we going, do you think? 35 miles an hour?”

The birds both laughed. “Oh dear, no. We’ve got too many young birds on this trip. We’re keeping it at a nice slow easy pace.”

Slow and easy? Thought Max. THIS is slow and easy??

He tried to flap his wings faster and harder, but it didn’t seem to help.

Suddenly, like a unit, all the birds began moving down toward a group of trees.

“Oh, are we at the grove?” Max asked the graceful couple.

“No. Just a short break.” They said in unison and swooped down to easily land on a top limb.

Max angled his wings to go in for a landing, but he was more tired than he thought. He came in fast and hit the trunk of a huge tree, bumped backward and ran into a perched bird.

“Hey! Watch it” they screeched at him.

“Sorry!” Max yelled as he bounced his way downward, hitting random branches all the way.

Flapping and flailing he tried to reach out and grab ahold of a limb to stop his fall but only managed to grasp a clawful of leaves.

Finally with a loud kerplump, he landed on the very floor of the rain forest.

Breathing hard and his heart racing he looked up and saw that all of the other Macaws were perched high up in the canopy at the very top of the trees.

“Nice landing,” a voice croaked.

Max quickly jumped on his feet and looked around trying to see who mocked him.

“Up here!” the voice croaked again.

Max looked up and sitting on a branch was a black bird with a yellow chest, blue feet and an amazingly long bill the color of a rainbow.

“I thought you were a frog!” Max said looking surprised.

“Yeah. That happens a lot.” The bird said as he plucked a berry off the tree with his beak.

“I’m a Toucan.” He continued, as he threw the berry up in the air, caught it and swallowed it whole.

“Name’s Bo.”

Max flapped his wings and flew up to sit on the limb next to this odd bird.

“My name’s Max. I’m a Scarlett Macaw.” He said with a bit of pride.

“Yeah kiddo. I know you’re a Scarlet Macaw.” Bo chuckled. “You guys are so loud the whole rainforest can hear you all coming from miles away.”

They both look up at the top of the trees where the canopy was filled with flapping red and blue wings and a whole of symphony of excited squawking.

“Your folks up there?” He asked as he tossed another piece of fruit up in the air with his beak and then caught and swallowed it whole.

“No, I’m flying solo this trip. My folks stayed home with my sister Claire, cuz she’s having some trouble figuring out how to be a normal Scarlet Macaw” Max said.

Bo gave Max a long look. “Poor Claire. I bet she was sad to see you go.”

Max remembered Claire’s wave goodbye and felt a twinge of guilt.

Bo threw another piece of fruit up and caught it.

“Why do you eat food like that?” Max asked.

Bo stopped and looked at Max. “Like this?” he asked as he expertly tossed another piece of fruit into the air to catch.

“Macaws don’t eat that way.” Max said.

“I don’t suppose you do. Truth is, with your curved beaks; I don’t think you could.”

“I could too. I’m a remarkable bird. Everyone says so.” Max said a bit smugly.

“Well, you do know how to fall from the sky real fast. That was quite remarkable.” The bird said with a chuckle.

Max didn’t like being mocked. “Throw me the fruit. I betcha I’ll catch it just like you do!”

“You think so, do you?” Bo asked then gave a berry a toss with his bill. It went high up in the air and arced down to Max. Max tried to lean back but his curved beak got in the way and the fruit bounced off of it and plopped onto the forest floor.

Bo laughed.

Max gave him a grumpy look. “Try it again!” he demanded.

Bo laughed again. “I don’t want to waste an more food and you’re not going to catch it.”

“I can too!” declared Max. He wasn’t used to failing and moments ago he crash-landed and now he couldn’t even catch food like a silly Toucan! “I am the best darn Macaw that you ever will see!”

The Toucan looked at the angry little bird and shook his head. “We’re different. Nothing wrong with being different. Toucan’s catch things with our bills better than you do.”

Max scowled.

“But you crack hard nuts and hard fruit, better than I can.”

Max was listening now.

“We’re just different. And there’s nothing wrong with being different.”

“Here! Catch this next one with your claw.” Bo said as he tossed another berry high into the air.

Max grasped the limb with his right claw and reached out his left claw to catch the berry. He gave a laugh and expertly brought it up to his beak and popped it in. He pressed it with his tongue against the inside of his beak and the berry burst in his mouth and he happily swallowed the sweet juice.

“See! I can’t do that!” Bo said with a smile. “You’ll find in life that everyone has things they’re good at and things they’re not good at.”

Suddenly loud squawking came from above as all of the Scarlet Macaws began flapping their wings and exiting the trees.

"You coming?! Better hurry hurry!"

Max knew he wasn't ready.

Knew he couldn't go.

So he raised his claw and waved goodbye and watched them fade into the distance.

Max looked thoughtful. “I think I’m ready to go home.”

Bo smiled. “Now that sounds like the best darn decision that you ever could make.”

And with a smile and wave, Max flew up and out of the canopy.

Max had flown as hard as he could, eager to be home! He saw the familiar trees and let out his loudest squawk ever! In the distance he heard a muffled squawk in reply. He honed in on the sound and after circling around the tree, saw his sister waving frantically, trying to get his attention.

He noticed something that he had missed the last time he saw his sister waving at him. She was perfectly balanced on one foot!

The only difference was, she held onto the branch with her left foot while all the other Scarlet Macaws hold onto branches with their right foot.

Claire was just different. And there was nothing wrong with being different.