Talon

Thank you Skuffy for your reply. I feel I have a better understanding of all your efforts to get Max back. I have great respect for you in not taking these replies personally and getting angry and defensive at us. I understand you learned a valuable lesson, and please don't give up on Max. Keep calling for him, he's scared, and needs you. He WANTS you to help and find him.

WOW! I never would have thought about the plastic. Thanks for the warning. I am glad she is healing well, I imagine she must be pretty sore, and they use their tongue for everything. I wouldn't worry about her not talking, she will when it is less sore.

I am so sorry for your loss. As I imagine you felt you did everything you could to get him back, I do agree that the way you wrote your story, it appears that you kind of accepted that your couldn't get him, and moved on. I am sure we are all mis-interpreting it. But what has leaves me the angriest, is it disgusts me and makes me angry when I read stories like yours, and I have read MANY! WHY WOULD YOU BE SO CARELESS AND LEAVE YOUR BACK DOOR OPEN AND RISK THE SAFETY OF MAX? I have 2 fully flighted greys who are out of their cages all day while I am home, free to fly through the house as they desire, supervised, and NEVER do we leave a door open, or even chance it!! I yell at everybody who enters my house to come in quick and close the door as fast as possible, all the while keeping my birds in another part of the house with me or a family member, and keeping the door closed. If that is not an option, then they go in their cages so there is no risk to them getting spooked and suddenly flying out the door. I read your story time and time again, and it infuriates me that people are so trusting in thinking their birds love them so much, that they would never accidentally get spooked and fly towards the first opening they see, familiar or unfamiliar. It happens EVERY TIME THEY GET SPOOKED, and sounds and sights that are so "normal" to us that we don't even give them a second thought, can be terrifying to our birds. They depend on us for their safety, and when we are careless with it because we have such trust in them, it can be a disaster as you have just learned. I hope and pray that Max is found and returned to you. I apologize for my rant, and this was by no means directed at you personally, but I just had to get this off my chest, as I read your story very frequently. :angry:

OMG! I'm so sorry.....

Oh FairY, what a beautiful story. I am so happy you shared that with us. I am very sorry for your loss, but I know he will once again be waiting to welcome you at the door once again in our next life. And yes, you were both blessed by having him as long as you have. I would love to see a picture of him if you have one. :huh:

Here is a beautiful email sent to me by our member Dave007. We should always remember this in our time of sadness, when one of our beloved flock members is called to the Rainbow Bridge that we hear so much about. This wonderful description tells it all. I choose to believe that one day, we will be the person in this wonderfully, comforting, but sad time that we all have, or will unfortunately experience. May these words of be of some comfort to us all: Rainbow Bridge Just this side of heaven, is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When a bird dies, it goes to Rainbow Bridge. At Rainbow Bridge, there are meadows and hills and beautiful trees of all kinds where all our special friends can fly andclimb, hang and flap, hop and run, jump and play, squawk and squeal and sing together. There is plenty of good food, including grapes and peanuts, ice cream, cheese, spaghetti, and especially, lots of pizza. There is crystal clear water in brooks and springs are filled with water as well as every kind of delicious fresh fruit juice. One warm spring even runs full of coffee and they can now drink their fill without hearing a single \"no no\". There is lots of glorious sunshine and sweet warm rain when they want it. Our friends are warm and comfortable and totally at peace. All birds who had been ill or old, are restored to health and vigor and to their natural incredible beauty. Their feathers shine, their wing feathers are whole and their eyes gleam once again with vitality. Those who were hurt or maimed or ignored or broken-hearted, are made whole and strong and free of fear, just as we remember them in our dreams of days gone by. The birds are happy and content....except for one thing....they each miss someone very special to them who had to be left behind. Still ,they fly and play happily, safely and noisily together...even the grouchiest Greys, the oneriest Senegals, the tiniest Finiches and the grandest Macaws. But the day comes for each bird when he suddenly stops and looks far into the distance. His body freezes and his bright eyes are intent as he watches and listens in silence. Suddenly he begins to fly from the group, soaring over the green grass, his wings flapping harder and harder. You have been spotted and he shrieks to you, then calls your name and his own and cries again and again as he rushes toward you. When you and your bird finally meet, you cling to each other in joyous reunion, knowing you will never again, be parted. Your face, your fingers, even your toes are covered with beak nibbles and soft ecstatic kisses. Your hair is preened by that special beak and his head bends under your fingers to invite your touch. Your hands again find their way under beloved wings, to caress the downy softness beneath. You look once more into the trusting eyes of your companion...so long gone from your physical life on earth but never, for an instant, absent from your heart. Your tears of joy are gently brushed away by those beloved wings...and feeling immersed once more in total contentment and love, you and your beloved companion Cross the Rainbow Bridge together. THANK YOU DAVE007 FOR SHARING THIS WITH ME AND ALLOWING ME TO POST IT. Sincerely, Talon<br><br>Post edited by: Talon, at: 2008/09/23 03:29

WOW~ Thanks for the reminder of how toxic fumes can kill so easily. How sad....

Dear Members, I am sad to say that one of our members here have passed away. Some of you may remember that last year, Talonsis and I went to a clinic given by the Bird Whisperer, Ken Globus. I was quite taken by his methods of calming birds that had problems being handled. He was gentle, and had the birds calm and able to be handled in a short time. After his clinic, I spoke with him and invited him to join our forum, to which he did. He enjoyed our forum here, and lurked more than posting for obvious reasons. We did correspond via email, so I know how much he liked our forum and all the members here. I have enclosed the link where I started this thread, and also the link announcing his untimely death. He did frequent here on occasion, and he will be deeply missed in the bird world. My prayers are with his family, and all his birds left here to wait until they meet again at the Rainbow Bridge. http://www.greyforums.net/forums/training/43441-ken-globusthe-bird-whisperer.html#44036 Ken Globus: March 7, 1946 - Sept. 10, 2008 The Bird Whisperer Dear Friends: This will come as a surprise to many people who didn't know he was ill, but Ken Globus passed away on September 10th. Ken, who hadn't been a smoker for about 25 years, was diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread to his esophagus. What's truly shocking is that, between his original diagnosis and his death, only 10 weeks had elapsed. Most of you are receiving this email because you're on his mailing list. So most of you know him as The Bird Whisperer. Here are some things you may not know about how Ken got started working with aggressive and phobic birds. Our parents used to own a tropical fish store in Inglewood, California. One day, our mother cleared out some space in the store and asked Ken what he thought would be a good idea to put there. Ken thought about it, then suggested that they might start carrying a few birds. Since our parents knew nothing about birds, they put Ken in charge, and he got to work reading books and researching bird behavior before he bought his first bird for the store. Keep in mind that, in those days, almost all birds sold in stores were wild caught, not bred in captivity - so they were usually pretty terrified and unruly. What Ken discovered - to his great surprise - was that very little of the advice in the bird books was appropriate for dealing with aggressive birds. So, through trial and error, he learned how to work with them. One of the many qualities that made Ken so successful with birds was his patience - he could simply persist until a bird decided that being aggressive wasn't working to drive Ken away. Another quality that served him so well was his flexibility - if one thing didn't work to calm a bird, he'd try something else until he made progress. (Parenthetically, it's a quality that also made him a great father.) When my parents reached an age when they were no longer able to run a demanding business, Ken went out on his own, doing private training sessions for bird owners. It was at one of those sessions where an immensely grateful client said, "Ken, you really are a bird whisperer." Ken called me and mentioned the incident, and I suggested he use the name The Bird Whisperer because I thought it would quickly convey what he was capable of doing. But he was reluctant to use the name because he thought some people might think it was a bit pretentious. As a marketer, I reasoned that, at the very least, it was very easy for people to remember, where Ken Globus was not. He finally agreed. Over the years, a lot has been written and said about Ken's techniques. You are certainly free to dismiss what I'm about to say as the biased rantings of a grieving brother, but I was simply blown away by what Ken was able to do with birds. I traveled with him both to private sessions and public workshops, and I watched him calm birds that couldn't even be touched by their owners. I saw people sobbing at the the sight of Ken stroking a bird's neck, a bird who wouldn't allow even its owner to come near it for over a decade. And I saw this happen many times. His bird-training sessions really picked up when he set up his web site. For the first time, people outside of the Los Angeles area where he lived could get a sense of what his techniques were all about. He began to be interviewed by news organizations, magazines and newspapers, all of them interested in how he was able to tame birds so quickly. He was hired by zoos, bird stores, and rescue organizations to deal with birds they'd given up on. And somewhere along the line, Ken got a phone call from a woman who identified herself as Kate Capshaw. Thinking it was a joke perpetrated by one of his friends, Ken hung up on her. She called back and informed him that she and her husband, Steven Spielberg, would like Ken to come to their house for a private session. He gulped, and agreed. And as Ken showed Kate how to handle the bird, Steven walked all around him with a video camera, recording the entire hour-long session. Talk about pressure! Through his many interviews and public appearances, Ken got to be pretty adept at dealing with one kind of pressure or another. The type that gave him the biggest problem came from his detractors who often wrote vicious and totally untrue things about him, and he would sometimes forward to me the more outrageous items. Usually we would giggle like schoolgirls, but I found some of these things to be appallingly mean-spirited, and I would want him to post an angry rebuttal. But, for the most part, he wouldn't. He simply felt that these people were uninformed. I always thought that was a most charitable way of looking at it, especially considering that many of the most shamelessly idiotic things were perpetrated by some of the more authoritative people in the bird world, people who felt more comfortable sniping at him from a distance rather than bothering to actually attend one of his events. But I digress. What Ken was able to do with birds wasn't magic. Ken was just an incredibly sensitive and intuitive person who, in a very short span of time, could figure out the best way to get a bird over its fears. At this I'm fairly certain there were few like him. I can also tell you that as a brother, there were none like him. He was kind, funny, incredibly bright, supportive, generous, and courageous - qualities he displayed up to his dying breath. Last week there was an occasion I'll never forget. It was only a few days after his passing, and my wife wanted to put together a "remembrance", where a few friends could gather to talk about what Ken meant to them. Even though this was thrown together at the last minute, over 60 of his friends showed up, and I'm certain that, given enough time, a few hundred might have been there. Ken was loved and appreciated by so many people. There were folks there from various stages of his life, all relating stories about Ken that helped to paint a complete picture of him. And what a picture it was! He was a great guy. A talented man who could do so many things well. And he was my best friend for 57 years. - Dennis Globus ________________________________________ Ken's Web Site Please note that I will leave his web site - TheBirdWhisperer.com - up for as long as possible. If you need more information, contact me at DennisGlobus@comcast.net For more information you can contact me at DennisGlobus@comcast.net<br><br>Post edited by: Talon, at: 2008/09/23 02:51

Mark is pretty close. This forum which is based in Isreal, was started 7 years ago by a Grey owner who wanted to share his love for greys. He continues to remain anonymous to the members by his choice. A few of us admin do know who he is, but we respect his right to his privacy. He has a good friend named FairY who he asked to help him monitor this site by becoming an admin. She agreed and kept things going pretty much by herself, until a year and a half ago when Ceasarsdad and I became members here. We dragged Judygram, our best friend from another grey forum that we all were members of, and some very good friends, Mark (dbhelix, Heatherstella) and many others that were our friends there. At that time, there were only 3 rooms here. Ceasarsdad and I became admin, then we started to add more rooms. We are now up to 15. We added all the moderators, who by the way, do an excellent job!! We continue to grow this forum every day. When we joined, there were only 1000 members, today, this is the biggest Grey Forum on the internet devoted to African Greys, with 3775 memebers! We are so lucky to have the best of the best for members here, it's YOU members that make this site what it is today! SO, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE!

How adorable!

I am so sorry for your loss. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Yes, this happens around 1 year of age in TAGS. Don't worry, it's perfectly normal. The color will stay that way for the rest of their lives. The chips, will probably flake off and heal. That too happens occasionally.

I hope you don't mind Judy......:pinch:

Scented candles, air fresheners are not safe to use around birds.

I thought a little HOW TO thread would be nice for those of US that are having trouble with making smiley faces in the IM box. B) Some of us feel left out....:evil: :laugh: So here is my list, feel free to add if you like. Smile : ) Sad Face : ( Laughing : P Mad Face : x Question : ? Wow : -o Said with a smile : -D Winking ; -) Blush : $ OMG! 8 -O NOTE: Take the spaces out, No spaces in the symbols.<br><br>Post edited by: Talon, at: 2008/09/18 22:21

Here is a reprint of an article I previously wrote explaining KARMA. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all remembered to acknowledge our family here by giving them karma daily? Karma Karma is a wonderful way to let other members know that you liked their post. It is shown in the members profile, and appears under your avatar when you post a reply. Karma is the same as giving a compliment. Under the avatar, you will see a thumb up, or a thumb down. If you like the post, you click on the thumb up, and their karma will increase by one, if you click on the thumb down, then it will decrease by one. You are allowed to give one karma every six hours. I certainly would like to see everyone take advantage of this and use your karma daily. We want all members here to feel good about their posts. Thanks to all members, Talon

Thank you for this reply. Karma for you for having the nerve to post here where others have kept their distance. :P I am glad that you are happy here. What members probably don't know, is this is a NON-PAYING job we have. All of us moderators and admins do our jobs here because we LOVE our greys and want to help. Donating our time freely for the love of our birds. B)

Due to some recent misunderstandings that I have seen lately. I would like to clarify a few things. This is an African Grey Forum. We come here to learn, to share, to offer advice, to help, to ask questions, to show off our birds, to have a little fun, to play games, share news, enter contests, etc. We make friends, we may develop long lasting friendships. We are A FAMILY. We care about each other, we cry over the losses that are experienced here, we worry about the lost birds, we worry about another members troubles, we check the latest posts daily to see what's new, we are sad if one of our members or their birds are sick. We keep checking in the hopes that all is well when something is wrong, we worry about what is going on elsewhere in your world, we hope and pray for each other here. This is why we are here. And in this family, where we use this technology to communicate with, we find it difficult to see the emotion behind the words, the expression, the tone of voice, the REAL intent that those written words mean. All we are left to with, is our interpretation of those written words that we read. Many members here are busy at work, and want to help so badly, they may post quickly making it impossible to analyze in so many different ways what their reply may or may not sound like. They shouldn't have to, we are all adults here, and need to remember that EVERYONE means well, and are only trying to help. But what I want everyone here to remember, especially those that are reading replies and posts, is that these posts are written by many different members from all over the world, from different backgrounds, different walks of life. You should not always take what they say personally, if you don't agree with their statements, that's fine, debate it if you like, but know that if you start a debate, you will read many opinions, you may like them or you may not. I have seen members start to feel that they are being personally attacked in these debates. I don't usually find that to be the case, but if I do, it is dealt with very quickly. I have the ability to lock threads, and delete them, I use that power only as a last resort if I am unable to calm things down both on the public forum and in the private message system after fair warning. In closing, please remember that ALL are welcome here. EVERYONE has so much to offer, just because your name may say "newbie" under it, you are still just as valuable as the members that have been here when I was a newbie. Back then, we had 3 rooms and no moderators, thanks to Ceasarsdad and myself, we now we have 15 rooms and 3 admin and 9 moderators. (plus I am in the search for a couple more.) WELCOME FAMILY AND REMEMBER THAT HERE, WE TREAT EACH OTHER WITH DIGNITY AND RESPECT. I would hope that if anyone ever has a problem, you will pm me or any moderator for help. That's what we are here for. THANK YOU FOR JOINING THIS FORUM AND BECOMING A MEMBER OF OUR FAMILY! B) Penny/aka Talon<br><br>Post edited by: Talon, at: 2008/09/18 04:43

My 2 birds have all types of juice from a glass and they love it! :woohoo:

Toni, thank you for the update. My God! You have been through so much, and what a lot of hard work you have had to do to get where you are in just 6 months. Keep up the good work, and I will pray that you make a speedy recovery so I can do that Cartwheel with you! :laugh:

I too live in Massachusetts. I purchased a grey from a breeder in Florida who had sent me pictures, updates and had her shipped to me at 8 1/2 weeks old fully weaned. I had no problems with anything. She was a very sweet and well socialized bird. There are only a few breeders here in this state, and they never seem to have any greys available. They are reserved so early on. Best of luck to you. I wouldn't be afraid to purchase your grey from this breeder. They look very reputable.

Welcome to our Lost & Found Room! I hope you never find the need to use this room, but if the unspeakable has happened and your bird has escaped, we are want you to be able to access some quick advice to help in the safe return of your bird. We will be compiling information here that may help you in rescuing your bird should you ever find yourself in a situation where you need it. We have had a few members here who have had their bird escape and spent days trying to coax them down out of trees, ect. I would also like this room to be used in following any rescues in progress. We are here to offer support as well, and any experiences you have will be helpful to others to follow. We LOVE all our birds here whether they belong to us or not. We have that bond that makes us feel like extended family and care for each other and our birds. The support you will receive here, will be a comfort in any situation that you find yourself in. Penny /aka Talon

I would like to welcome everyone to our Health Room! :cheer: I will begin the process of moving topics into this room in the next day or so that are appropriate. We have many. Please feel free to get started here with any Health issues or questions or advice you may have, topics pertaining to our birds, any birds. Some examples such as: feather plucking, eye questions, skin problems, eye concerns, changes in behavior, illness, things like that. **Please note: ANY FOOD QUESTIONS, PLEASE POST IN THE BIRD FOOD ROOM. Don't worry if your not sure which room to post in, use your good judgment, I can move your thread to the appropriate room if need be. <br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2008/10/29 22:15

I have one and use it a lot. Talon prefers this to go to the vet with, or to transport her into the car much better than the standard carrier.

OMG! I am so sorry for you and Caesar. I am in tears for you and what happened. You are in my prayers.