Hello everyone and welcome to the Within Range Coaching Podcast. I'm Ranger, certified holistic
success coach, and in this podcast, I'm breaking down the journey that entrepreneurs face as they
start their organizations, find solutions to the roadblocks in their way, and create an impact
that lasts. So if you're an entrepreneur, non-profit leader, or purpose-driven community
member that wants to learn how to grow your impact and develop yourself as the person behind the
mission, then this podcast is for you. I know you're just as eager as I am to get started,
so let's jump right in. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening everyone, and welcome
to today's episode. I hope everyone's having a fantastic day, and I say that because spring
has sprung. At the time of recording, I'm currently taking a couple days off from my walk
in beautiful Columbia, South Carolina. It's just a great town all around. There's lots to see and
do everywhere, historical monuments, museums, and just a ton of other things kind of all over the
place. It's a lot to do and see, but I'm going to put that to the side, put a pin in that, because
today we're here to talk about a nearby bird sanctuary that is making a huge difference for
some of our feathered friends. Today's episode is part of our Walk Across America series,
where I'm highlighting those that have helped support the mission of the walk in some way,
shape, or form. And today we get to hear from a couple of lovely people that offered me their
home to lay my head for a night and have become some great friends and colleagues along the way.
Today I'm joined by two passionate and dedicated bird lovers who strive to help
birds with problems because become birds of purpose. Michael and Diane Cox, thank you so
much for joining us today. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Yeah, I'm excited to have you guys on.
There's a lot to talk about, but in terms of today's episode to really keep us centered and
moving forward, what would you say that your guys' intention is for today's episode? Well,
we would like to show people what it's like to have a bird and to realize the responsibility
and understand that they're not puppies and you need to have a lot of education about owning a
bird. Yeah, it's very different from our normal four-legged furry friends. And I mean, in my
experience when I was with the Northern California Herb Society, that was something we did constantly.
These animals aren't the things that you're used to. There's very different care-wise.
So I'm very excited to hear a little bit more about what it is that you guys do and let you
guys share some of that information with the listeners. Yeah, well, we are a little bit
different than a lot of what you hear, bird rescues. We're actually a sanctuary. So when we
take birds in, Michael works with people. He's a well-known bird behaviorist. So he helps people
to try to keep their birds if it's possible. Many of the birds that we have here, it wasn't possible
for their certain situations. Some were confiscated in police issues. Some, their owners were ill and
knew that they were going to pass away and we've taken their birds with promises that
their birds are going to be here. We're not going to be rehoming them. Also, I think we feel like
many of the birds that we do have have been rehomed so many times and it's a tremendous amount
of stress for a bird to get used to a new environment. So we really committed to keeping
them here. So we don't rehome them. Yeah, I think that's so valuable. Just knowing that
there's someone that in the worst case situation, it's not just folks that say, oh, I don't want
them anymore. They're too loud. That's part of it, of course. But there's just some situations,
which before I got into rescue, I had no idea how common the police situation was, or it's a
hoarding situation. People get arrested, et cetera, et cetera. That's what baffled me the most.
That would be an issue I would run into. And I think that's also interesting that you're not
necessarily like a rescue in the term of bringing animals in and then rehoming them.
Can you talk a little bit more about why that's significant for the overall well-being of the
birds? It's very simple. As I mentioned to you when you were here, we also have birds that were
treated horrifically thrown against walls, kicked around like footballs. They become very, very
agitated, very violent. So we keep them from being euthanized because people aren't able to handle
them once they get to that point. Well, I've been doing this for many, many years, and I work with
them so that they've got a forever home here. They feel safe. They feel loved. They feel welcomed.
And one of the really coolest things is we have a number of macaws, the largest of your parrots.
And there's really no aggression between any of them. When we bring in a bird, the others actually
help me and Diane to welcome the bird into the family. It's a beautiful... Well, you were here.
You saw firsthand. And so that's the main reason that we do this, that it has to be a sanctuary and
not a rescue, because when we say they've got a forever home, that's exactly what we mean.
Now, our daughter's 24 years old, Chris, and when I get to the point where I'm ready to hide my own
Easter eggs, Chris will then be able to take over the sanctuary with volunteers, and the birds will
still be able to remain here. Hence, they have a forever home with us. I'm really tired of people
getting birds as a novelty and things of that nature, and then after X amount of time,
just discarding them like they mean nothing. Birds are one of the most intelligent creatures
in the animal kingdom that I've ever come across. They're sensitive. They know how to show love.
They know how to let you know that they're safe and they're happy and they appreciate
and they reach your heart. I think I mentioned that to you. I can take a bird that's been through
just really terrible stuff and wants to take you down. And within a matter of a few moments,
and it's not an ego thing, but within a matter of a few moments, they're going to be able to
take you down. But within a matter of a few moments, I can take this bird, bring it right to my chest,
close my eyes, and I play a little game with it. I try to imagine two hearts beating as one.
The bird picks up on this, and all of a sudden, I can feel this bird relax against my chest,
in my arms, and it feels safe. And there's nothing like it in the world. It's the beauty
of communicating with the animal kingdom without the need for dialogue.
That's beautiful. How did you learn that? How did you do these things? But would you guys,
let's back up for a second because it makes sense. There's a lot of stress the animals go through
being rehomed. There's a lot of traumatic experiences that have been through all these
crazy situations. How did you two land as the people that are just advocating for them? What
got you into it to begin with? Well, I personally, it comes back from my childhood.
When I was 10 years old, I was in a family that wasn't, how do I put this, my parents
weren't very nice people, and I wasn't allowed to have friends at the house. So I remember
one summer I walked out and sat on the back porch, and I'm looking out through the yard,
and I see this little, little bird, and I'm like, Oh, my God, it's a little bird. And I'm like,
Oh, it's a little black bird down at the end of the yard in this little tree. And all of a sudden,
this guy flies straight at and lands on my knee. And I don't know how long he was there. It seemed
like, you know, 30 seconds or more, maybe it was just 10. But when he left, well, let me back up
for a minute. I was sitting on the stairs and looking around and I saw the bird and I remember
tears running down my face because I wanted to have a friend. I didn't have any friends. People
were not allowed to come to my house. So when this bird landed on my knee, it was like, Wow,
I've got a friend and it's not a human being. It's someone within the animal kingdom that's saying,
Hey, Michael, hello. So when he took off, he flew three complete circles around the yard
and disappeared into the icy cold, the space of or day, you know. And when I got from that,
it's that I needed to get out of where I was. I needed to leave, right? Go. So I did. And I ended
up on the Indian reservation and I spent three years with these beautiful people. And that's
where I learned that all animals deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. The elders were
awesome in what they showed me to allow my heart to sing and get out of my head and let my heart
rule, so to speak. That's what I use in working with birds that are extremely stressed. It's not
what comes out of my mouth or whatever that matters. What they read is what is in my heart.
And like a screaming jet, everything that they follow will fly straight through your heart in a
moment, decide whether or not they find you worthy of trust, love and caring. And that's how I've
always done it with not just birds, but several different types of creatures in the animal kingdom.
I'm in the process of writing a book called the unspoken language. And that refers to the language
that all animals communicate with one another once again, without the need for dialogue.
Yeah, no, that's so interesting. It's, it almost sounds like the gift that you have. It's not
really something you can train yourself to do. It's really that belief you hold so true to yourself.
You can't fake that experience that you can have in that dialogue with the animals. It sounds like
it's very true. And I guess like deep within you, like they can sense that you can't trick them with
it. Exactly. They read exactly who you are. And one of the things that I've mentioned to people that
have birds and want to have a beautiful relationship with them, but say for instance, they're afraid of
them. And I refer to that as the fear monster, you need to blow that sucker out into the icy
cold space. Because if you don't, birds and most animals meet fear as aggression, they think you're
going to do something to them. So what they do, I refer to as the preemptive strike, they're going
to nail you before you can do anything to them, even though you're not, you're just scared to death.
So I've talked to a lot of people about getting rid of the fear monster, so to speak, because that's
one of the biggest downfalls. Number two, a bird basically loves a pure heart and loves the magic
of true love and true sensibility. I've recommended to people to try and remember back when they looked
at life with the eyes of a child, when everything was crisp, it was new, it was beautiful, and you
just couldn't wait for the next moment to arrive. That I've mentioned to a lot of people and it's
actually helped to improve their relationships with their birds. Get out of your head, let your
give your beautiful heart that you have a chance to sing, a chance to say hello, and welcome this
beautiful animal into your home, into your life, into your heart, and you have a real bonded
relationship and it can happen in an instant, it can happen in a delicious instant. Because I think
we find people are, they bring a bird home and they expect it to be like a puppy, and birds are
prey animals, and they're not, you know, if we get a new bird in here, we'll interact with them, but
we may not even try to get them out of the cage for a month, you know, we give them time to adapt,
and like Michael said, the other birds here make a new bird feel welcome, and birds with problems,
we have birds that just scream, and the other birds just look at them, let them do their screaming,
when they get tired of it, they start hollering back, and somehow get the the new bird to
understand the rules of the flock. There's a whole lot that goes on here without words.
And what about you? How did you get into it? I met a girl that I worked with and she was selling a
blue and gold macaw, and I had never seen one in person, like maybe at the zoo, but never in person
as somebody's pet, so I just wanted to see her, and when I saw Anna as the blue and gold macaw, I
didn't know a lot about birds, but I knew her situation was not good, she was kept in a small
bathroom in the dark all day, she had a bowl of peanuts and a bowl of water, and there were
children running around feeding her, you know, part of their ham sandwich and Cheetos and dogs
all over, and she was terrified, she was lunging at me, but somehow we caught eyes, and when I
looked at her, I just was asking the woman, how much do you want? So I paid her, I call it her
ransom, and that's kind of how I got started, and you know, I immediately started to try to learn,
you know, because I looked at Cheetos and ham sandwiches, and I thought, well that can't be,
and peanuts don't seem nutritional, so I started really trying to learn about the nutritional needs,
you know, back in the day people gave them monkey biscuits, remember? There's so much out there now
that people are learning and considering for birds for their nutritional status. Almost every bird
that comes here has liver problems, and that comes from a bad diet, so Michael does a lot with the
behaviors and helping people with that part, and I love to talk about diet and nutrition for birds.
I'm constantly looking at new things, we're learning that there are certain, don't go out
there and just like get mushrooms, but there are certain mushrooms that are really good for birds,
and it's a way to get their vitamin D. Vitamin D is another thing that they're low on, because
they're not out in the sunshine, so there's so much to learn, and I think the puppy aspect,
when you've given this bird a year or two or three, then you might cuddle it like a puppy,
but it takes a lot of effort on your part to, for them to learn to trust.
Yeah, and going to what you said with the diet, the common issues that you see,
in the reptile world, what we saw a lot was metabolic bone disease in bearded dragons,
because they don't supplement, they don't give them the right diet, they think, oh,
I'll just throw some crickets in there and some iceberg lettuce, and they're eating it. Look,
they're eating, but there's no nutritional value there, there's nothing, and it's kind of,
that's perpetuated through, like you're kind of saying, like these old ideas, like this is
information we had 30, 40, 50 years ago, and people hold onto that so heavily, because that's
what comes up first when you Google things, or what my mom did, this is what my grandma did,
this is what Aunt Becky told me to do, and I'm curious with that, like how do you know,
when you're looking at this information, what's good information, what, how do you go through the
noise to find that nugget of truth?
There are some people that are really expert in nutrition, Dr. Jason Kreen, I've met him through
Facebook, he started his own products, it's called Biodiversity for Birds, he got his doctorate
degree in biology, and he specializes in avian nutrition. Christine Hill, she has, no, Christine
Wood, she has Christine's Chop Shop, and she prepares the food, and you can buy it from her.
We a lot of times can't do that, because we have so many birds, so I try to learn as much as I can
about what these experts are doing, I also do additional research, so you know, just because
somebody's giving milk thistle to their bird doesn't mean I'm going to run out and do it, I studied, and
that was one of the things, we got a bird, Sammy Sue, she came in from a man that was going into
the nursing home, the man's best friend adopted the bird, and within what, two months, yeah, he
called Michael to go with him to get the bird, and then within two months, the man was calling
Michael saying, can you come get her? Every bird is different, you know, people will ask us, what's
the best kind of bird to get, is a blue and gold a good bird, or a green wing, and the thing that I
tell people, and I've heard Michael tell people, is every bird's different, you know, just like
people, you've got to look at their personalities, and their experiences, and their needs, so
you know, it's a tricky thing when you get a bird, and I always say the best thing is let the bird pick you.
Yeah, and I think that dichotomy that people fall into, which is so easy for folks to fall into, but
is very dangerous for the animal, is what's the best beginner insert species, is it good or bad,
and when I worked in a reptile store, my rebuttal to that was, it's what, the best animal for you
to start with, is the animal that you can truly care for, that you can give it everything it needs,
and provide it a good life, and also, what do you mean a good animal, one that's, like what's your
definition of good, one that's easy for you, one that is, you know, like it has to fit the mold of
what's good for the person, rather than what's best for the animal, and I think that's such a valuable
thing to take away that, even with that species, narrowing it down to species, the individuals are
so different. Right, exactly, yeah. Yeah. Regarding the milk thistle that she touched on,
one of the things we discovered that a couple of our birds were, we took them to the vet,
you know, really sick, and extremely with failure, and basically, we were told perhaps we needed to
get our affairs in order regarding the bird that was going to die. Well, guess what? We discovered
milk thistle seed, and we gave it to them, and we gave it to them in high quantities. They rebuild
their livers, they're doing absolutely awesome today, and it saved their lives, and I try to
share that with as many people as possible. When you take your bird to the vet, and it's got
terrible liver failure and things of that nature, give milk thistle seed the opportunity, because
we found in a few cases here that it turned it completely around. Now, I'm not prescribing this,
I'm suggesting this, because it has worked for us, and when a vet says to you, there's nothing more
than we can do, well, guess what? There is. There's always an alternative. There's always an answer
out there. It's trying to find the right one at the right time to make it work. That is the
overwhelming quest, if you will, to do it.
Yeah, I think we're just starting to see herbals being used more for birds. I mean, they live in
the wild. They're out there using nature to stay healthy. It's one of the things that I've been
studying a lot is what herbs are going to enhance their health and make them feel good or make them
feel better. People think, well, we just go buy pellets and give it to them, and they really need
variety. The pellets are good. I think pellets are important to have as your baseline. They're
important to have as your baseline, but they need vegetables. They need treats. They need certain
supplements that they don't get in their diet.
Varied fruits.
Yeah.
Yeah, and it sounds like a lot of that is also finding, what is it, like kind of like trust,
but verify. Talk to experts, learn from them, but also know there's always another answer.
And if I'm remembering correctly, I think what you guys said to me is that on average, the lifespan
of these birds in the wild is still higher than in captivity. Is that true?
Yes.
Okay. And that's such a weird concept because you would think that you would be in a better
space with it. I think that just shows how much more we have to learn. And not only, I'm sure you
guys can keep them alive longer than in the wild, but it's getting that information out to folks
and letting them know this is the best info, not whatever you find on the back of a crackerjack
box.
Right.
Exactly. That's why I really appreciate this podcast because one of the things that I find
kind of redundant is that we're members of a number of different bird Facebook groups. And
every now and then people will post on there what you should do if you're entertaining the concept
of getting a bird. Well, everybody in these groups already have a bird. Okay. So I'm going like,
did IQ suddenly drop when I turned on my computer here? So to be able to get that out to other
people that genuinely may have entertained the concept of getting one, but not yet own one or
have, you know, gotten one, if you will. I don't like to use the word own. I don't think life is
meant to be owned by anything, but only shared, you know? So yeah.
Yeah. No, we can talk all day about the craziness of Facebook groups. And
I've been cussed out in there for asking questions. It's insane, but it's,
but yeah, it's, it's, it's so interesting how the community is split in that way or, or how,
I don't know, like, like you're kind of saying that it's just not,
it's almost like not the right audience for what they're writing.
Right. I don't know. But yeah, it's like somebody takes an academic class, but all of a sudden,
their instructor's teaching you on that. And when I said the night, your guys' house, I thought it
was so interesting that everything right now is like in the surrounding area of your house
and like the main areas of your house kind of spread through all over. How do you guys like
maintain that many birds? How many birds do you have? How do you maintain it? Like,
because I, I've been to people's houses that have a bunch of animals smell wise and like,
you can tell, right? When I went to your guys' house, it, I didn't smell any, like it was insane
how clean it was. Like, how do you, how do you do it? A lot of work. Well, one thing that when
somebody says they want a bird, I'm like, come and spend a day with us. Now we have over 50 birds,
but if you just see the amount of care that's required, you, you can't, you can't just leave
them sitting with dirty papers. You have to change them. They need fresh water. Some of these guys
need fresh water several times a day, depending on how much they play in their water bowl. They all
have a TV to watch so that they're, you know, there's stimulation for them. Although we find
that they really like being in this group with each other. They communicate with each other all
day. And if you just sit and listen, you can hear them calling back to each other from across the
room. And we always say we live in their house. So our job is to keep it clean and you know,
take care of everything. We've got them exactly where they want us. So we're doing it right.
Another really important thing too, is the one-on-one individual care. So we have a
kind of individuality that we have with each of them to bring them out, play with them, hold them,
snuggle them. And do you have a second here? I'm going to show you an example of what a bird can
do for you when it loves you and trusts you. Yeah, for sure. Okay, come on. This is Brandy.
The only way that she could be handled by her previous owner was with welding gloves. She was
extremely vicious. They were terrified of her. She's called a military macaw. They're endangered
right now. But this is when they trust you, this is one of the things that birds will do. Come here.
Can I have some love? Can I have some loves? I love you. I love, I love.
Say hi to everybody out there. Say what's up.
That's okay. You don't have to say hi. I heard you say it. Anyway, this is Brandy,
military macaw. She's on the endangered species list. These are awesome, awesome birds. But you
know what? Every single one of our birds is awesome in its own way. How cool. And for those that are
listening, I'm going to see if I can cut the video to show you guys Brandy because she's a beautiful
bird. And just the way that she immediately snuggled, it's so interesting that I didn't see
the before or anything, but I can only imagine how defensive or rambunctious she could have been,
air quotes around that. And now it's just like you're saying, she can sense that energy that
you have around her. When they brought her to my sanctuary out in Northern California, they had her
in a carrier and the guy goes to hand me his welding gloves and said, here, you're going to need
these. And I looked at him and I went, oh, really? And I opened the door and I reached in and I went,
come here and brought it right to my chest. Put my left hand over the top of her like that. Once
again, played that little game to try and get two hearts to beat us one. Immediately, immediately
in front of them, she completely mellowed and their mouse just dropped open and went like,
how did you do that? I said, my heart did it. I didn't, you know, it all comes from the heart.
And I can't stress that enough. And it's really hard. You can't teach something like that,
but people can do it because everyone has a beautiful, beautiful, magical part of them that
is able to take and communicate and sing and make those around you feel more comfortable
and more safe. Every one of us does it or has the ability to do it. There's no one that can do it
any better than anybody else. If you allow your heart to sing and get out of your head, because
nine times out of 10, it's your brain that fools you in day to day living. But usually it's your
heart that will always guide you, will always tell you, you know, this is the right choice to make.
This is the right thing to do. I depend more on my heart than I ever did my mind. Okay.
Yeah. And I think that's such a, like a lot of, a lot of what gets in people's,
it's achieving goals in terms of being with animals, being with other people as they just
get in their heads so much that it just really clouds what's most important. And it sounds like
it's kind of digging through that noise once again, to get to kind of what the heart is saying.
Like listen deeper, listen clearer, and then you'll really know what you need to do and how you need
to be in the world. Yes. Move forward, essentially. Our mission to make it simple is that we want the
bird to win. And you mentioned earlier, we're birds with problems become birds of promise.
That's exactly what happens here. You know, and I can't imagine myself doing anything other than
this. It's the greatest choice that I ever made in my life was stepping up for something that
doesn't have the tools or the means to defend itself or to feel safe in this world that we call
that is, you know, inundated with human beings. You know, so I walked away from an awesome career
in marine biology, and just said, you know what, I remember the little black bird, that little black
bird is the one that saved my sanity, gave me the option to be able to explore the animal kingdom.
But the coolest thing about all of it was I no longer felt alone. I'm sure that you're
sharing that feeling with so many other birds and every animal, I mean, every person you come in
contact with. The thing that stuck with me the most staying with you guys was everybody eats.
Whether they're inside the house, I thought that was just such a beautiful, like, such a simple
thing to say, but it's just such a beautiful concept of if you are in my vicinity, I will
treat you as part of the system. I don't own you. I don't control. We're sharing this space,
and I'm going to make sure that we're all taken care of.
Exactly. Yeah. Well said. Yes.
Oh, thanks. I try.
That was good.
That was good. Sweat off forehead.
Not editing that part out. But if, so just kind of wrap it up. If our listeners were to walk away
with one major concept from today's conversation, what would you want it to be?
To remember that we are the guests of the animal kingdom on this planet,
and we should treat them all with dignity and respect.
We're done. There we go. All right, Diane. All right, Michael, where can people find you?
If people want to learn more, if they were interested in getting a bird and want to get
good information, where should they go? Our website, for one thing, is the bird whisperer.org.
Our email address is global nest sanctuary at gmail.com, in which I also wanted to mention,
I've helped a number of people with problems with their birds and all, and I have never once
charged one single dime to anyone to give them a hand, and that still applies. Okay.
We're a nonprofit, 501 C3. We accept donations. If you'd like to do something like that,
that would be appreciated. Our PayPal addy is global nest sanctuary at gmail.com.
But that's not really as important as for folks to be able to just to listen to your message,
let your heart sing, and try to get out of your mind as much as possible, and let your heart come
back to smiling and giving you another beautiful day in this universal playground.
I love it. And all that information will be in the show notes, your website, the donation link,
and I notice on your website, you also have a lot of resources.
Bird care, plants, dangerous food, disease recognition, items not to have in your house.
I'll be sure that we put that under the resources section in the show notes.
Okay. If anybody needs just a quick reference, they can check it out there. But Michael, Diane,
thank you so much for spending a Tuesday morning with me for a little bit, and again,
for opening your home to me and sharing your magic with our listeners. I really appreciate it.
Well, you're very, very welcome. When you get out to California, hop on a plane, bring your honey
back out here and spend a weekend with several barbecue. Perfect. I love it. I'm sure she'll love
all the birds. All right. All right. Thank you for having us.
Of course. I'm excited for maybe a re-up one day. We'll see. Yes, absolutely.
Thank you for investing your time with us today. To continue on your
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