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Hello everyone and welcome to the Within Range Coaching Podcast. I'm Ranger, certified holistic

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success coach, and in this podcast, I'm breaking down the journey that entrepreneurs face as they

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start their organizations, find solutions to the roadblocks in their way, and create an impact

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that lasts. So if you're an entrepreneur, non-profit leader, or purpose-driven community

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member that wants to learn how to grow your impact and develop yourself as the person behind the

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mission, then this podcast is for you. I know you're just as eager as I am to get started,

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so let's jump right in. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening everyone, and welcome

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to today's episode. I hope everyone's having a fantastic day, and I say that because spring

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has sprung. At the time of recording, I'm currently taking a couple days off from my walk

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in beautiful Columbia, South Carolina. It's just a great town all around. There's lots to see and

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do everywhere, historical monuments, museums, and just a ton of other things kind of all over the

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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

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today we're here to talk about a nearby bird sanctuary that is making a huge difference for

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some of our feathered friends. Today's episode is part of our Walk Across America series,

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where I'm highlighting those that have helped support the mission of the walk in some way,

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shape, or form. And today we get to hear from a couple of lovely people that offered me their

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home to lay my head for a night and have become some great friends and colleagues along the way.

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Today I'm joined by two passionate and dedicated bird lovers who strive to help

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birds with problems because become birds of purpose. Michael and Diane Cox, thank you so

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much for joining us today. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Yeah, I'm excited to have you guys on.

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There's a lot to talk about, but in terms of today's episode to really keep us centered and

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moving forward, what would you say that your guys' intention is for today's episode? Well,

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we would like to show people what it's like to have a bird and to realize the responsibility

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and understand that they're not puppies and you need to have a lot of education about owning a

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bird. Yeah, it's very different from our normal four-legged furry friends. And I mean, in my

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experience when I was with the Northern California Herb Society, that was something we did constantly.

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These animals aren't the things that you're used to. There's very different care-wise.

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So I'm very excited to hear a little bit more about what it is that you guys do and let you

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guys share some of that information with the listeners. Yeah, well, we are a little bit

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different than a lot of what you hear, bird rescues. We're actually a sanctuary. So when we

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take birds in, Michael works with people. He's a well-known bird behaviorist. So he helps people

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to try to keep their birds if it's possible. Many of the birds that we have here, it wasn't possible

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for their certain situations. Some were confiscated in police issues. Some, their owners were ill and

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knew that they were going to pass away and we've taken their birds with promises that

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their birds are going to be here. We're not going to be rehoming them. Also, I think we feel like

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many of the birds that we do have have been rehomed so many times and it's a tremendous amount

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of stress for a bird to get used to a new environment. So we really committed to keeping

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them here. So we don't rehome them. Yeah, I think that's so valuable. Just knowing that

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there's someone that in the worst case situation, it's not just folks that say, oh, I don't want

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them anymore. They're too loud. That's part of it, of course. But there's just some situations,

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which before I got into rescue, I had no idea how common the police situation was, or it's a

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hoarding situation. People get arrested, et cetera, et cetera. That's what baffled me the most.

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That would be an issue I would run into. And I think that's also interesting that you're not

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necessarily like a rescue in the term of bringing animals in and then rehoming them.

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Can you talk a little bit more about why that's significant for the overall well-being of the

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birds? It's very simple. As I mentioned to you when you were here, we also have birds that were

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treated horrifically thrown against walls, kicked around like footballs. They become very, very

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agitated, very violent. So we keep them from being euthanized because people aren't able to handle

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them once they get to that point. Well, I've been doing this for many, many years, and I work with

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them so that they've got a forever home here. They feel safe. They feel loved. They feel welcomed.

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And one of the really coolest things is we have a number of macaws, the largest of your parrots.

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And there's really no aggression between any of them. When we bring in a bird, the others actually

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help me and Diane to welcome the bird into the family. It's a beautiful... Well, you were here.

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You saw firsthand. And so that's the main reason that we do this, that it has to be a sanctuary and

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not a rescue, because when we say they've got a forever home, that's exactly what we mean.

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Now, our daughter's 24 years old, Chris, and when I get to the point where I'm ready to hide my own

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Easter eggs, Chris will then be able to take over the sanctuary with volunteers, and the birds will

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still be able to remain here. Hence, they have a forever home with us. I'm really tired of people

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getting birds as a novelty and things of that nature, and then after X amount of time,

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just discarding them like they mean nothing. Birds are one of the most intelligent creatures

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in the animal kingdom that I've ever come across. They're sensitive. They know how to show love.

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They know how to let you know that they're safe and they're happy and they appreciate

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and they reach your heart. I think I mentioned that to you. I can take a bird that's been through

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just really terrible stuff and wants to take you down. And within a matter of a few moments,

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and it's not an ego thing, but within a matter of a few moments, they're going to be able to

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take you down. But within a matter of a few moments, I can take this bird, bring it right to my chest,

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close my eyes, and I play a little game with it. I try to imagine two hearts beating as one.

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The bird picks up on this, and all of a sudden, I can feel this bird relax against my chest,

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in my arms, and it feels safe. And there's nothing like it in the world. It's the beauty

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of communicating with the animal kingdom without the need for dialogue.

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That's beautiful. How did you learn that? How did you do these things? But would you guys,

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let's back up for a second because it makes sense. There's a lot of stress the animals go through

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being rehomed. There's a lot of traumatic experiences that have been through all these

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crazy situations. How did you two land as the people that are just advocating for them? What

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got you into it to begin with? Well, I personally, it comes back from my childhood.

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When I was 10 years old, I was in a family that wasn't, how do I put this, my parents

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weren't very nice people, and I wasn't allowed to have friends at the house. So I remember

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one summer I walked out and sat on the back porch, and I'm looking out through the yard,

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and I see this little, little bird, and I'm like, Oh, my God, it's a little bird. And I'm like,

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Oh, it's a little black bird down at the end of the yard in this little tree. And all of a sudden,

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this guy flies straight at and lands on my knee. And I don't know how long he was there. It seemed

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like, you know, 30 seconds or more, maybe it was just 10. But when he left, well, let me back up

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for a minute. I was sitting on the stairs and looking around and I saw the bird and I remember

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tears running down my face because I wanted to have a friend. I didn't have any friends. People

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were not allowed to come to my house. So when this bird landed on my knee, it was like, Wow,

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I've got a friend and it's not a human being. It's someone within the animal kingdom that's saying,

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Hey, Michael, hello. So when he took off, he flew three complete circles around the yard

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and disappeared into the icy cold, the space of or day, you know. And when I got from that,

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it's that I needed to get out of where I was. I needed to leave, right? Go. So I did. And I ended

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up on the Indian reservation and I spent three years with these beautiful people. And that's

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where I learned that all animals deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. The elders were

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awesome in what they showed me to allow my heart to sing and get out of my head and let my heart

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rule, so to speak. That's what I use in working with birds that are extremely stressed. It's not

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what comes out of my mouth or whatever that matters. What they read is what is in my heart.

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And like a screaming jet, everything that they follow will fly straight through your heart in a

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moment, decide whether or not they find you worthy of trust, love and caring. And that's how I've

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always done it with not just birds, but several different types of creatures in the animal kingdom.

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I'm in the process of writing a book called the unspoken language. And that refers to the language

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that all animals communicate with one another once again, without the need for dialogue.

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Yeah, no, that's so interesting. It's, it almost sounds like the gift that you have. It's not

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really something you can train yourself to do. It's really that belief you hold so true to yourself.

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You can't fake that experience that you can have in that dialogue with the animals. It sounds like

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it's very true. And I guess like deep within you, like they can sense that you can't trick them with

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it. Exactly. They read exactly who you are. And one of the things that I've mentioned to people that

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have birds and want to have a beautiful relationship with them, but say for instance, they're afraid of

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them. And I refer to that as the fear monster, you need to blow that sucker out into the icy

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cold space. Because if you don't, birds and most animals meet fear as aggression, they think you're

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going to do something to them. So what they do, I refer to as the preemptive strike, they're going

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to nail you before you can do anything to them, even though you're not, you're just scared to death.

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So I've talked to a lot of people about getting rid of the fear monster, so to speak, because that's

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one of the biggest downfalls. Number two, a bird basically loves a pure heart and loves the magic

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of true love and true sensibility. I've recommended to people to try and remember back when they looked

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at life with the eyes of a child, when everything was crisp, it was new, it was beautiful, and you

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just couldn't wait for the next moment to arrive. That I've mentioned to a lot of people and it's

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actually helped to improve their relationships with their birds. Get out of your head, let your

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give your beautiful heart that you have a chance to sing, a chance to say hello, and welcome this

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beautiful animal into your home, into your life, into your heart, and you have a real bonded

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relationship and it can happen in an instant, it can happen in a delicious instant. Because I think

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we find people are, they bring a bird home and they expect it to be like a puppy, and birds are

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prey animals, and they're not, you know, if we get a new bird in here, we'll interact with them, but

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we may not even try to get them out of the cage for a month, you know, we give them time to adapt,

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and like Michael said, the other birds here make a new bird feel welcome, and birds with problems,

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we have birds that just scream, and the other birds just look at them, let them do their screaming,

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when they get tired of it, they start hollering back, and somehow get the the new bird to

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understand the rules of the flock. There's a whole lot that goes on here without words.

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And what about you? How did you get into it? I met a girl that I worked with and she was selling a

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blue and gold macaw, and I had never seen one in person, like maybe at the zoo, but never in person

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as somebody's pet, so I just wanted to see her, and when I saw Anna as the blue and gold macaw, I

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didn't know a lot about birds, but I knew her situation was not good, she was kept in a small

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bathroom in the dark all day, she had a bowl of peanuts and a bowl of water, and there were

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children running around feeding her, you know, part of their ham sandwich and Cheetos and dogs

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all over, and she was terrified, she was lunging at me, but somehow we caught eyes, and when I

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looked at her, I just was asking the woman, how much do you want? So I paid her, I call it her

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ransom, and that's kind of how I got started, and you know, I immediately started to try to learn,

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you know, because I looked at Cheetos and ham sandwiches, and I thought, well that can't be,

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and peanuts don't seem nutritional, so I started really trying to learn about the nutritional needs,

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you know, back in the day people gave them monkey biscuits, remember? There's so much out there now

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that people are learning and considering for birds for their nutritional status. Almost every bird

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that comes here has liver problems, and that comes from a bad diet, so Michael does a lot with the

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behaviors and helping people with that part, and I love to talk about diet and nutrition for birds.

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I'm constantly looking at new things, we're learning that there are certain, don't go out

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there and just like get mushrooms, but there are certain mushrooms that are really good for birds,

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and it's a way to get their vitamin D. Vitamin D is another thing that they're low on, because

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they're not out in the sunshine, so there's so much to learn, and I think the puppy aspect,

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when you've given this bird a year or two or three, then you might cuddle it like a puppy,

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but it takes a lot of effort on your part to, for them to learn to trust.

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Yeah, and going to what you said with the diet, the common issues that you see,

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in the reptile world, what we saw a lot was metabolic bone disease in bearded dragons,

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because they don't supplement, they don't give them the right diet, they think, oh,

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I'll just throw some crickets in there and some iceberg lettuce, and they're eating it. Look,

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they're eating, but there's no nutritional value there, there's nothing, and it's kind of,

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that's perpetuated through, like you're kind of saying, like these old ideas, like this is

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information we had 30, 40, 50 years ago, and people hold onto that so heavily, because that's

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what comes up first when you Google things, or what my mom did, this is what my grandma did,

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this is what Aunt Becky told me to do, and I'm curious with that, like how do you know,

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when you're looking at this information, what's good information, what, how do you go through the

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noise to find that nugget of truth?

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There are some people that are really expert in nutrition, Dr. Jason Kreen, I've met him through

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Facebook, he started his own products, it's called Biodiversity for Birds, he got his doctorate

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degree in biology, and he specializes in avian nutrition. Christine Hill, she has, no, Christine

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Wood, she has Christine's Chop Shop, and she prepares the food, and you can buy it from her.

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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

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about what these experts are doing, I also do additional research, so you know, just because

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somebody's giving milk thistle to their bird doesn't mean I'm going to run out and do it, I studied, and

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that was one of the things, we got a bird, Sammy Sue, she came in from a man that was going into

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the nursing home, the man's best friend adopted the bird, and within what, two months, yeah, he

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called Michael to go with him to get the bird, and then within two months, the man was calling

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Michael saying, can you come get her? Every bird is different, you know, people will ask us, what's

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the best kind of bird to get, is a blue and gold a good bird, or a green wing, and the thing that I

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tell people, and I've heard Michael tell people, is every bird's different, you know, just like

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people, you've got to look at their personalities, and their experiences, and their needs, so

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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.

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Yeah, and I think that dichotomy that people fall into, which is so easy for folks to fall into, but

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is very dangerous for the animal, is what's the best beginner insert species, is it good or bad,

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and when I worked in a reptile store, my rebuttal to that was, it's what, the best animal for you

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to start with, is the animal that you can truly care for, that you can give it everything it needs,

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and provide it a good life, and also, what do you mean a good animal, one that's, like what's your

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definition of good, one that's easy for you, one that is, you know, like it has to fit the mold of

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what's good for the person, rather than what's best for the animal, and I think that's such a valuable

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thing to take away that, even with that species, narrowing it down to species, the individuals are

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so different. Right, exactly, yeah. Yeah. Regarding the milk thistle that she touched on,

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one of the things we discovered that a couple of our birds were, we took them to the vet,

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you know, really sick, and extremely with failure, and basically, we were told perhaps we needed to

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get our affairs in order regarding the bird that was going to die. Well, guess what? We discovered

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milk thistle seed, and we gave it to them, and we gave it to them in high quantities. They rebuild

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their livers, they're doing absolutely awesome today, and it saved their lives, and I try to

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share that with as many people as possible. When you take your bird to the vet, and it's got

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terrible liver failure and things of that nature, give milk thistle seed the opportunity, because

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we found in a few cases here that it turned it completely around. Now, I'm not prescribing this,

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I'm suggesting this, because it has worked for us, and when a vet says to you, there's nothing more

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than we can do, well, guess what? There is. There's always an alternative. There's always an answer

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out there. It's trying to find the right one at the right time to make it work. That is the

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overwhelming quest, if you will, to do it.

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Yeah, I think we're just starting to see herbals being used more for birds. I mean, they live in

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the wild. They're out there using nature to stay healthy. It's one of the things that I've been

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studying a lot is what herbs are going to enhance their health and make them feel good or make them

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feel better. People think, well, we just go buy pellets and give it to them, and they really need

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variety. The pellets are good. I think pellets are important to have as your baseline. They're

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important to have as your baseline, but they need vegetables. They need treats. They need certain

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supplements that they don't get in their diet.

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Varied fruits.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, and it sounds like a lot of that is also finding, what is it, like kind of like trust,

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but verify. Talk to experts, learn from them, but also know there's always another answer.

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And if I'm remembering correctly, I think what you guys said to me is that on average, the lifespan

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of these birds in the wild is still higher than in captivity. Is that true?

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Yes.

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Okay. And that's such a weird concept because you would think that you would be in a better

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space with it. I think that just shows how much more we have to learn. And not only, I'm sure you

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guys can keep them alive longer than in the wild, but it's getting that information out to folks

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and letting them know this is the best info, not whatever you find on the back of a crackerjack

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box.

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Right.

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Exactly. That's why I really appreciate this podcast because one of the things that I find

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kind of redundant is that we're members of a number of different bird Facebook groups. And

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every now and then people will post on there what you should do if you're entertaining the concept

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of getting a bird. Well, everybody in these groups already have a bird. Okay. So I'm going like,

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did IQ suddenly drop when I turned on my computer here? So to be able to get that out to other

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people that genuinely may have entertained the concept of getting one, but not yet own one or

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have, you know, gotten one, if you will. I don't like to use the word own. I don't think life is

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meant to be owned by anything, but only shared, you know? So yeah.

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Yeah. No, we can talk all day about the craziness of Facebook groups. And

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I've been cussed out in there for asking questions. It's insane, but it's,

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but yeah, it's, it's, it's so interesting how the community is split in that way or, or how,

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I don't know, like, like you're kind of saying that it's just not,

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it's almost like not the right audience for what they're writing.

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Right. I don't know. But yeah, it's like somebody takes an academic class, but all of a sudden,

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their instructor's teaching you on that. And when I said the night, your guys' house, I thought it

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was so interesting that everything right now is like in the surrounding area of your house

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and like the main areas of your house kind of spread through all over. How do you guys like

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maintain that many birds? How many birds do you have? How do you maintain it? Like,

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because I, I've been to people's houses that have a bunch of animals smell wise and like,

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you can tell, right? When I went to your guys' house, it, I didn't smell any, like it was insane

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how clean it was. Like, how do you, how do you do it? A lot of work. Well, one thing that when

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somebody says they want a bird, I'm like, come and spend a day with us. Now we have over 50 birds,

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but if you just see the amount of care that's required, you, you can't, you can't just leave

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them sitting with dirty papers. You have to change them. They need fresh water. Some of these guys

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need fresh water several times a day, depending on how much they play in their water bowl. They all

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have a TV to watch so that they're, you know, there's stimulation for them. Although we find

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that they really like being in this group with each other. They communicate with each other all

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day. And if you just sit and listen, you can hear them calling back to each other from across the

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room. And we always say we live in their house. So our job is to keep it clean and you know,

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take care of everything. We've got them exactly where they want us. So we're doing it right.

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Another really important thing too, is the one-on-one individual care. So we have a

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kind of individuality that we have with each of them to bring them out, play with them, hold them,

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snuggle them. And do you have a second here? I'm going to show you an example of what a bird can

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do for you when it loves you and trusts you. Yeah, for sure. Okay, come on. This is Brandy.

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The only way that she could be handled by her previous owner was with welding gloves. She was

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extremely vicious. They were terrified of her. She's called a military macaw. They're endangered

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right now. But this is when they trust you, this is one of the things that birds will do. Come here.

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Can I have some love? Can I have some loves? I love you. I love, I love.

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Say hi to everybody out there. Say what's up.

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That's okay. You don't have to say hi. I heard you say it. Anyway, this is Brandy,

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military macaw. She's on the endangered species list. These are awesome, awesome birds. But you

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know what? Every single one of our birds is awesome in its own way. How cool. And for those that are

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listening, I'm going to see if I can cut the video to show you guys Brandy because she's a beautiful

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bird. And just the way that she immediately snuggled, it's so interesting that I didn't see

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the before or anything, but I can only imagine how defensive or rambunctious she could have been,

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air quotes around that. And now it's just like you're saying, she can sense that energy that

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you have around her. When they brought her to my sanctuary out in Northern California, they had her

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in a carrier and the guy goes to hand me his welding gloves and said, here, you're going to need

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these. And I looked at him and I went, oh, really? And I opened the door and I reached in and I went,

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come here and brought it right to my chest. Put my left hand over the top of her like that. Once

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again, played that little game to try and get two hearts to beat us one. Immediately, immediately

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in front of them, she completely mellowed and their mouse just dropped open and went like,

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how did you do that? I said, my heart did it. I didn't, you know, it all comes from the heart.

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And I can't stress that enough. And it's really hard. You can't teach something like that,

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but people can do it because everyone has a beautiful, beautiful, magical part of them that

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is able to take and communicate and sing and make those around you feel more comfortable

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and more safe. Every one of us does it or has the ability to do it. There's no one that can do it

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any better than anybody else. If you allow your heart to sing and get out of your head, because

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nine times out of 10, it's your brain that fools you in day to day living. But usually it's your

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heart that will always guide you, will always tell you, you know, this is the right choice to make.

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This is the right thing to do. I depend more on my heart than I ever did my mind. Okay.

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Yeah. And I think that's such a, like a lot of, a lot of what gets in people's,

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it's achieving goals in terms of being with animals, being with other people as they just

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get in their heads so much that it just really clouds what's most important. And it sounds like

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it's kind of digging through that noise once again, to get to kind of what the heart is saying.

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Like listen deeper, listen clearer, and then you'll really know what you need to do and how you need

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to be in the world. Yes. Move forward, essentially. Our mission to make it simple is that we want the

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bird to win. And you mentioned earlier, we're birds with problems become birds of promise.

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That's exactly what happens here. You know, and I can't imagine myself doing anything other than

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this. It's the greatest choice that I ever made in my life was stepping up for something that

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doesn't have the tools or the means to defend itself or to feel safe in this world that we call

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that is, you know, inundated with human beings. You know, so I walked away from an awesome career

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in marine biology, and just said, you know what, I remember the little black bird, that little black

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bird is the one that saved my sanity, gave me the option to be able to explore the animal kingdom.

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But the coolest thing about all of it was I no longer felt alone. I'm sure that you're

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sharing that feeling with so many other birds and every animal, I mean, every person you come in

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contact with. The thing that stuck with me the most staying with you guys was everybody eats.

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Whether they're inside the house, I thought that was just such a beautiful, like, such a simple

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thing to say, but it's just such a beautiful concept of if you are in my vicinity, I will

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treat you as part of the system. I don't own you. I don't control. We're sharing this space,

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and I'm going to make sure that we're all taken care of.

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Exactly. Yeah. Well said. Yes.

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Oh, thanks. I try.

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That was good.

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That was good. Sweat off forehead.

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Not editing that part out. But if, so just kind of wrap it up. If our listeners were to walk away

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with one major concept from today's conversation, what would you want it to be?

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To remember that we are the guests of the animal kingdom on this planet,

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and we should treat them all with dignity and respect.

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We're done. There we go. All right, Diane. All right, Michael, where can people find you?

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If people want to learn more, if they were interested in getting a bird and want to get

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good information, where should they go? Our website, for one thing, is the bird whisperer.org.

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Our email address is global nest sanctuary at gmail.com, in which I also wanted to mention,

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I've helped a number of people with problems with their birds and all, and I have never once

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charged one single dime to anyone to give them a hand, and that still applies. Okay.

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We're a nonprofit, 501 C3. We accept donations. If you'd like to do something like that,

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that would be appreciated. Our PayPal addy is global nest sanctuary at gmail.com.

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But that's not really as important as for folks to be able to just to listen to your message,

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let your heart sing, and try to get out of your mind as much as possible, and let your heart come

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back to smiling and giving you another beautiful day in this universal playground.

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I love it. And all that information will be in the show notes, your website, the donation link,

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and I notice on your website, you also have a lot of resources.

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Bird care, plants, dangerous food, disease recognition, items not to have in your house.

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I'll be sure that we put that under the resources section in the show notes.

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Okay. If anybody needs just a quick reference, they can check it out there. But Michael, Diane,

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thank you so much for spending a Tuesday morning with me for a little bit, and again,

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for opening your home to me and sharing your magic with our listeners. I really appreciate it.

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Well, you're very, very welcome. When you get out to California, hop on a plane, bring your honey

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back out here and spend a weekend with several barbecue. Perfect. I love it. I'm sure she'll love

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all the birds. All right. All right. Thank you for having us.

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Of course. I'm excited for maybe a re-up one day. We'll see. Yes, absolutely.

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Thank you for investing your time with us today. To continue on your

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journey of building an impact driven life, check the description and show notes for a few freebies

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and resources to help you on your life's journey. Be sure to like, subscribe and rate the podcast

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on whatever platform you're listening to right now, as this will help the podcast grow so we

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can help more people help more people. As always, have fun, stay safe and be yourself.