This is a story of Macho Kindness:  tough guys with tough machines and soft  hearts, who came to the aid of some helpless birds, the temple, and each other.

It was a dark and stormy night—all over the East Coast on Friday, December 18, 2009.

At KPC in Poolesville, MD, it was snowing up a storm when we heard an engine idling outside in the driveway.  Upon investigation, we found a four-wheel-drive truck with a snowplow on the front and a trailer on the back.  (No picture:  it was a dark and stormy night!)

The driver was glad to see someone.  He had come to repair the generator for the Garuda Aviary and had never been there.   In the dark, he couldn’t figure out where to go.

Now, it happens that he had been asked to repair it some time before, but, for various reasons, hadn’t  been able to get to it.  On that stormy night, he was responding to an urgent plea to see what he could do.  (If we were to lose power in the storm, it would mean probable death by freezing for the birds. And he knew that.) Trouble was—he couldn’t see.  We showed him where the lane went down the hill, and figured that the snow wasn’t deep enough yet to cause any trouble for a truck like that.

Sure enough, he went down and after a while came back, with the news that he didn’t have to haul the generator away, after all—just needed to install a new battery.  He had one at home, he said, and would be right back with it.  And so he was.

Good thing the power didn’t go out that night!  Because it turned out that he wasn’t able to fix it on the spot after all.  He did wind up hauling it out that night on his trailer, taking it home, where he worked on it all the next day.

We didn’t know that at the time, however.  We only found that out when, late the NEXT afternoon, he showed up again with the truck, the trailer, and the generator.  By that time, we will remind you,  we already had fifteen inches of snow.  In fact, we had just been rejoicing about the arrival of our neighbor, with his Bobcat, to plow the driveway and parking lot.

It was still light when we looked outside and realized that the generator guy and the neighbor in the Bobcat were putting their heads together.  We wondered about that .  . . and next time we looked, we saw the generator guy’s truck stuck in the lane coming up the hill from the aviary.  He was shoveling frantically, so we grabbed a shovel and hurried down . . . only to find that our neighbor was there too.  We really wish we had a picture of him surveying the scene:  there was his Bobcat, at the bottom of the lane, in front of the aviary.

Now, this neighbor is an expert with the Bobcat.  We pay him to clear the drive, and he is kind enough to work it in even though he spends long hours clearing roads in a storm like this.  On this occasion, he was just on his way home from a day of plowing the Beltway, all the way to Route 50 and back.  But it was a steep hill, low visibility, and an unpaved lane.  (NOT an area we expected him to plow!)  His machine had tires rather than tracks.  And somehow it had slipped all the way down the hill . . . .  We were just glad to see him, the Bobcat, and the aviary all in one piece.

“All the way to Route 50,” he muttered, “and I wipe out across the street from home!”

So, we all dug, and scraped, and jumped out of the way as the truck freed itself and gunned its way back up to the driveway.  Then everything became clear.  The two guys had been trying to open up the lane enough to get the truck, with the trailer and the generator, down to where it was needed.  And they were still determined to get that generator down there.  Now that the truck was out of the lane, they could drag the trailer down by . . . man power, and install the generator.  And that’s what they did.  In the dark.

And that’s why the parking lot still hadn’t been cleared by Sunday morning.

The rest of the story has pictures.  Here’s what the Bobcat looked like on Sunday.

On Monday morning, our neighbor arrived with his tractor and a crew.

They had a plan, involving the tractor, and chains . . . .

And of course shovels.

It took some maneuvering . . . and some manpower . . .

But it worked!  Our neighbor is pretty happy about it!

The Bobcat is free at last!

It’s time to go now.  We ask our neighbor if it’s okay to use his picture, and he says yes—just not his name.  We ask him if he went down the hill in the storm on Saturday because he knew what it would mean for the birds if the power went out.  “So,” we accused him, “you were being kind, right?”

He looked down at his boots and smiled.  “N-a-a-w . . . !” he said.

KPC is supported by members, visitors, and friends.  You can join them by donating here!

This is what it looked like yesterday at KPC during the Great Blizzard of 2009.

Beginning Friday evening, the snow was unrelenting until late Saturday night. It fell fine and fast, with a pretty good wind behind it at times.

You can see in the picture below what the flags are doing!

The stupa is barely visible . . .

. . . and every bush is wearing its own snow-cone extension!

The bird feeders are too. The winged ones are having a hard time finding food!

Ani Palmo went out to clear the bird feeders and fill them with birdseed.

Now at last the birds can find a footing, and some food. That’s a peanut-butter pine cone she’s waving around in her right hand:  an easy way to get some nutrition out to them.  (That’s right–it’s just what it sounds like!  You smear peanut butter on a pine cone.)  And she took some bread crusts out too, tossing them in a place with some protection from the snow.

At midafternoon, 15 inches of snow had fallen, and it was still coming down.

One of the other nuns, Ani Pema, had to make her way down to the Garuda Aviary (our parrot sactuary) to tend to the birds. The photographer missed Ani-la on her trek–but here’s her trail.

We caught up with Ani Pema later, warm and dry, inside the temple.

Meanwhile, the 24 Hour Prayer Vigil, the heart of our activity at KPC, continues, with the residents tag-teaming on shifts.  Ani Pema did a double shift earlier in the day, four hours.  Here’s Gonpo, arriving from elsewhere on the property, to take a late-afternoon shift.

You can see how the snow is piling up!  It seems we are completely cut off from the outside world.  But wait–here comes help!  The cavalry!  Our neighbor with a bobcat.

It was such a beautiful sight, we think we want to show more of it.  After all, plowing means that YOU can get here!

By the way, you can sponsor the Prayer Vigil and dedicate your support to a loved one or a cherished cause.  Click here to learn more about Prayer Without Ceasing.

Having His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche on the throne at KPC reminded us all of his predecessor–and our mutual teacher–His Holiness Penor Rinpoche.  (Karma Kuchen Rinpoche was raised as his heart son.)

That is Penor Rinpoche’s picture behind him, with the light beautifully reflecting as if from his heart.  In fact, seeing Karma Kuchen Rinpoche on the throne felt like being with Penor Rinpoche as a young man.  As Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, KPC Spiritual Director, remarked, His Holiness seemed to have “mixed his mind with that of Penor Rinpoche.”

His Holiness offered four empowerments:  Guru Rinpoche (or Precious Teacher), Vajrakilaya (wrathful remover of spiritual obstacles), Dorje Phagmo (the feminine mind of enlightenment), and Amitayus (Buddha of Long Life).  Here two Palyul monks, accomplished musicians, blow the long horns to signal the point at which the empowerment is transferred to those present.

People approached the throne to receive the blessings and empowerment substances.

Jetsunma was able to visit extensively with His Holiness.  Here they are, preparing to sit down for a long discussion.

His Holiness was very pleased with a gift that Jetsunma brought:  an empowered miniature stupa with a crystal  bhumpa .  The crystal contained a precious relic, carefully sealed inside.

When His Holiness asked to see the relic, Ani Dawa, who had sealed the stupa herself, started to tell him that it wasn’t possible.

“It’s permanently sealed . . .” she started to explain, then, seeing that it had yielded immediately to his hand, she trailed off,

“ . . . or not.”

His Holiness easily and securely re-assembled the stupa once he had looked inside.

The incident reminded observers of a story told about his predecessor, Penor Rinpoche, as a child.  He is said to have dropped an ancient, sacred vajra (a ritual instrument) and broken it.  Appalled, he quickly applied saliva to stick the parts together again—and successfully mended it!

Speaking of young people, they also came to visit.  Elizabeth and Riley were running a bake sale for the benefit of the Garuda Aviary, to which they are devoted.  They offered the first cupcake (it was the first one–right, girls?) to His Holiness, who seemed very pleased.

Not to be left out of the gift action, photographer Manny Garcia presented a portrait he had crafted of His Holiness.  (One of Manny’s photos of then-candidate Barak Obama became the basis for the famous “Hope” poster.  Now THIS would make a great poster, wouldn’t  it, Manny?)

At the end of the empowerments, Manny herded everyone outside for a group photo with His Holiness.

Of course, some people don’t need to be herded!  We’ve watched Ani Dolma (a former  U.S. Army major, now retired) organize a crowd!  Here she seems bemused by the goings on.  (TEN HUT!)

Finally, everyone was ready, and pictures were snapped.  We particularly like this shot:  look carefully at His Holiness, making the peace sign—and young Robin, in front of him, unconsciously but perfectly framing his gesture with her exuberant arms!  May we always act in such harmony with our teachers!

I volunteered in the Garuda Aviary for awhile when it was located in Arizona. In 2004, we took in an Amazon parrot named Skipper. Everyone loved him. He and I became quite close—I think I probably resembled his former owner—and he stayed with me whenever I was working. Within a couple months he developed a breathing problem. When the avian vet said Skipper couldn’t continue to live with so many dander-producing birds, Jetsunma allowed me to adopt him.

I had him for several months and as he reached maturity and began to test his dominance, it became clear that I did not have the “alpha bird” qualities to be the leader. He began biting and becoming more unruly. He had been very well-socialized, and I knew that my weakness would ruin him.

Thankfully a woman named Bernadette—who had volunteered at Garuda Aviary for some time and had adopted several of the birds who also couldn’t stay in the aviary—was happy to adopt Skipper.

During the last two weeks with Skipper, I began to have flashes of a yellow bird in my mind. As if that didn’t seem crazy enough, I sensed that he needed me. At some point I realized it was a cockatiel. Each day it got a little stronger and I had a feeling of urgency about finding the bird. I started looking at cockatiel rescue websites and checking out local pet stores.

I was to bring Skipper to Bernadette’s home in the early evening. That whole day, the sense of urgency grew so strong that I finally went into my prayer room and prayed deeply to Jetsunma, “I don’t know where this bird is and don’t know what else to do. Please plop him in my lap.”

That evening I drove out to Bernadette’s home with Skipper in a travel cage. It was a difficult trip because I loved him so much. It was like giving up a child. We got Skipper set up and Bernadette gave me a tour of her many rescued birds, sharing their life stories. They were mostly large birds.

When she finished the tour I said, “I have a general question about cockatiels.” Before I even asked my question, Bernadette interrupted, “I’m going to give you Trickster. He’s a cockatiel who needs a home, and you’re the perfect person to take him.”

I was speechless. I hadn’t said anything about looking for a cockatiel, the yellow bird, nothing. And during her tour, she hadn’t even mentioned that she had any cockatiels.

She led me out to the backyard in the pitch dark, and we walked down a dirt path to an outdoor aviary. She shined the flashlight on a small flock of cockatiels all bunched up on a long perch. She quickly grabbed one, stuffed him under her shirt and led me back in the house, saying “This is your bird.” For a moment I thought I should be the one choosing my bird, but then I remembered the prayer I had made to Jetsunma and how weird this whole thing was.

When we got inside, Bernadette pulled Trickster out of her shirt and put him in Skipper’s travel cage. There he was—a bright yellow cockatiel! Bernadette said he was a rescue who’d come with the other 11 cockatiels. But unlike them, he was a “people bird” and wasn’t thriving without a lot of human interaction.

I renamed him Konchog Birdy. He is pure joy. Many times when I’ve felt depressed he’ll say, “What’re you doing?” and then “I love you!” It always snaps me out of it.

Ani Sangye Drolma

Baby Boomer Bird Bust Looming?

Christopher is anticipating a tidal wave coming in the next 10 or 15 years. It is thought that many baby boomers, a huge demographic, will feel that they are incapable of taking care of their parrots. So perhaps thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of parrots will need new homes. Those in the parrot rescue world are not looking forward to this, but they do want to be ready for it.

“Because we don’t have much funding and a limit on space right now, we can only take in the worst of the worst cases.” It is his hope that in the future, the aviary will have a bigger facility and more funding and be able to take in even the birds that just cause their owners “inconvenience.” He said the aviary gets a couple of calls a week saying that it is difficult for the owner to take care of their bird, they work a lot, whatever. It seems bad, but it is still a convenience problem. “We currently just take in birds that are in an emergency situation.”

Visitors At the Flight Cage:  Yes!

Christopher does not want his flock to stress out about, “Being a prey animal in a small cage, unable to fight or to flee, and having unfamiliar people walking around your cage staring at you.” He prefers not to have too many folks visit the inside of the aviary; the birds would feel trapped.

However, he welcomes visits to the outside flight cage. The flight cage is big enough so that the birds could move to the other side if they felt nervous. On most nice weather days, with the temperature above 60 degrees, Christopher brings the parrots out around noon and takes them in around 4 pm. The birds are very social when they are comfortable. Please come and say hello. Some of the birds, and perhaps even Christopher, will answer you!

To find out more about parrots or to make a donation, please visit the  Garuda Aviary website. 

Private Parrot Whisperer

When asked if he had a Facebook or My Space page, Christopher replied, “Absolutely not.” He is a pretty private person and is known as somewhat of a recluse. “I have an e-mail address, I’ve had it for about four months, and it’s the very first in my life. And I give it to no one, because chances are they will try to contact me.” When he had business cards printed when he was doing massage work, there was no phone number on them!

Dear Parrot Whisperer, I Have This Parrot That…

Christopher says, “Many people haven’t done research before they bought their parrot. They find themselves at the end of their rope with an animal they can barely take care of. In that case, I try to give advice that might make that situation easier. But my preference would be to talk with them before they bought a parrot, and hopefully dissuade them from doing so.”

He adds, “If people really feel that they absolutely need to buy a parrot, there are lots of people out there who need to get rid of perfectly good parrots. And unfortunately, for years to come parrots will be juggled from home to home here in America. At this aviary, we try to educate people that parrots do not make good pets; they should be left in the wild. Dogs and cats have had centuries of selective breeding so that we can have those animals that are best with people. Parrots do not have the benefit of that breeding. They are basically wild animals brought right into our living rooms.”

Even hand-hatched parrots have the instincts of a wild animal. What is Christopher’s advice for someone who wants a parrot? “Look for another animal. Probably 90% of people who get a parrot will want to get rid of it within three years. That is why parrots get juggled around from house to house so much. And every time that happens, it takes a huge emotional toll on the bird. What you end up with are birds that are considered unhandleable. That is where this aviary finds its niche; birds that cannot be handled by anybody else find a home here.”

Stay until tomorrow as the story continues…

To find out more about parrots or to make a donation, please visit the Garuda Aviary website. 

Rescue Me:  An Animal Rescue Benefit Concert will take place at 2pm on Sunday, August 16  Cafe 611 in Frederick, MD.  The concert featuring nine local bands will benefit local animal rescues including the Frederick County Human Society, Days End Farm Horse Rescue, and the Garuda Aviary.  Admission is $5.

Rescue Me was the inspiration of KPC’s own Nathaniel Waggoner.  For the complete story, check out the Frederick Gazette article.

Everybody come out to support these great causes!

Itty Bitty Buddy Bird

Christopher has a pet bird of his very own that he keeps at home. She is a small Sun Conure. Christopher says that is kind of funny, because the bird he is closest to at the Aviary is Demara, the Hyacinth Macaw, the largest bird in the flock. While the two birds that Christopher is the closest to are quite different in size, there is not much difference in their emotional bearing. Jetsunma will sometimes give Christopher a hard time for how loud his little bird is at home. But he says imagine a bird 100 times her size honking and barking and squawking, wanting his attention. That is what he has to deal with at the aviary.

Bicycles and Birds

Christopher rides a bike; and rides and rides…. “I have a Giant road bike, and I cycle a lot. I don’t really have a lot of time off, and one way that I rejuvenate myself is with hard cardiovascular workouts. On my bicycle I will take trips of 30-40 miles. Weather providing, I get about 70-90 miles a week; that has a huge effect.”

Christopher also used to touch people for a living, not parrots. “I was licensed as a massage therapist, and that entails a lot of knowledge about the bodies’ biomechanics and biochemistry.  If a person works hard they produce a lot of toxins, and if you just go home at night, you’re going to keep them. People wonder why when they go to bed and wake up the next morning and don’t really feel relaxed. So you need to use your body in order to help your body. Cycling is one way that I use to get rid of the stress of this job.”

The  story continues…

To find out more about parrots or to make a donation, please visit the Garuda Aviary website. 

Bird Bath

Christopher uses a misting system to give the flock a much-loved “bath.” This is a great tool to shower the flock with. Christopher says the rainforest parrots, the colorful birds, especially require showers. The Cockatoos, from the Australian continent, a dryer place, are usually not quite as exuberant during showers, but they still enjoy it.

Cockatoos require a lot more water, on them, though. They have quite a lot of dander, and it’s kind of waxy. Unless he continually sprays them, the water will just roll off. The flock will sometimes line up close to him as he sprays them, some hanging upside down, and spread and flap their wings so that the water will get to all their feathers. This gang really looks forward to and enjoys their bath days!

Birds:  Beethoven or Brahms?

Do birds like music? Sure they do! Should they listen to the same music Christopher does? Not!

“I wear ear plugs when I am inside doing this job, and I will listen to music,” says Christopher. He also will sometimes play classical music for the parrots. Christopher finds the music of Ludwig Van Beethoven a bit “bombastic.” He thinks the birds prefer Mozart and Handel, and maybe Vivaldi. Somewhat more soothing and calming music. Christopher says Beethoven’s music sometimes will get real quiet and kind of lull you, and then, BAM, he hits you.  That’s when the birds start calling out. Christopher wants something more on an even keel.

As for the kind of music Christopher prefers, “I guess that I would have to say by most people’s ears, it’s just horrible, ghastly stuff; really hard music. Stuff that most people don’t even want to hear.” Some groups he likes are Deftones, Faith No More; and Wu-Tang Clan. (Note to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: He does not subject the birds to that music.)

To be continued…

To find out more about parrots or to make a donation, please visit the Garuda Aviary website. 

Boss Bird’s First Steps

“Knowing that parrots are intensely hierarchical, I asserted myself as their singular alpha,” says Christopher. Translation: He was now the “bird in charge.” He enforced that by being the only person who went in their cages, being the person who fed them, and being present and in charge when there were visitors to the aviary. He took up as many duties of alpha bird as he could conceive of. That went a long way toward easing the parrots’ anxiety. Feather plucking and fighting decreased. Christopher presented a stable and dependable routine, the birds did not have to deal with a steady stream of different people.

Feeding the Flock

Using a mix of nuts, seeds, fresh fruits and vegetables, Christopher tries to tailor each bird’s diet to its particular preference; all 36 of them. He carefully watches what each bird leaves behind in their food bowls, to see what they are not eating. “I try to explore what they like,” he says.

The birds eat nuts that are still in the shell. Christopher tried t

hem on shelled nuts and they had zero interest. He is not sure whether that is because they like to play a little and to crack open the nut with their beaks, or whether there is a deep-seated instinct that says a nut in the shell is good; no bugs have gotten in it. His Macaws would eat just nuts all day if he let them. The problem is that a diet of all nuts is an incomplete diet. He moderates the amount of nuts they get, and makes sure they eat other things such as sunflower and safflower seeds, as well as the other nutritious things that come in their seed mix.

Some of the smaller birds would prefer to just eat one type of seed only out of the mix. So he does not load up their bowls with that mix, requiring them to eat other things. He monitors closely the fresh produce he offers them, making sure not to put out something that they have no interest in eating. In the past, some volunteers would bring string beans for the birds. He said they had no interest in string beans. However, snap peas in the pod are one of their favorites. Yummy!

Another item that the parrots love is hot peppers; the hotter the better! The capsicum oil that makes hot peppers hot, does not bother the birds’ dry mouth in the least. They eat them up like they were strawberries. Cantaloupe is another big favorite. A common theme is seeds. Parrots in the wild are drawn to fruit for the seeds. Seeds are a cache of nutrition for them.

While the birds are out in the flight cage playing, Christopher is inside preparing their food. “Being the alpha, I am the one taking them outside and bringing them back in; kind of like leading them from one place to the next.” Sometimes Christopher will hide nuts in the birds’ cages. They will then have to forage in the pieces of tree trunks resembling fallen trees he has placed at the bottom of the cage. This is somewhat like what they do in the wild. Parrots also like to chew things. He can put a piece of tree trunk in a Cockatoo’s cage, and within a week they will have stripped off all the outer bark leaving only the hardwood part.

After the birds have eaten, Christopher spends time going through the seed bowls and sorting out what was eaten and what was not. Christopher says, “Because their diet is not cheap, and being a non-profit organization operating during a recession, we have to maximize every single dollar.”  To find out more about parrots or to make a donation, please visit the Garuda Aviary website.