Flying Flock

Back in the year 2000, Brother Konchog hit a wee speed bump on his path. My teacher yanked me out to Arizona and plopped me in our remote retreat center called Dakini Valley for Reeducation Through Dharma (and some labor). This turned out to be a good thing for me and I got my head screwed back on semi-straight. In June of 2001 I moved to Sedona and when I asked my teacher, “What now?” she replied, “You should help take care of the birds.”

Seemingly odd Buddhist instruction, I know, but what can I tell you? The wisdom of it will become clear in a moment.

“The birds” referred to the nearly three dozen parrots we had rescued over the years from horrible situations of abuse and neglect, eventually creating a lifelong sanctuary called Garuda Aviary. For three years, I volunteered several days a week chopping fruit and veggies, replacing seeds and nuts, scraping up copious piles of poop, and hanging out and playing with my new flock o’ buddies in their flight cage.

Parrots are remarkably intelligent, emotionally sensitive critters that will perfectly mirror your mind. If you’re impatient, they’re nippy (often blood-lettingly so); if you’re calm, they might snuggle up for a skritch; if you’re angry, they’re hysterical. To be master of the aviary, you had to check your ego and its proliferating emotions at the door. You had to think like the parrots; it was all about them.

I came to love these guys – Damara the playful giant Hyacinth Macaw; Talha the love muffin Moluccan Cockatoo (pictured above);  traumatized Harry, the Blue and Gold Macaw who finally consented to stepping up on my hand.

Time and circumstance change, and fairly recently we had to transfer the aviary to our temple here in Maryland. One major donation allowed us to build a wonderful indoor sanctuary for the flock, but they were missing their favorite space – an outdoor flight cage where they could really spread their wings. Well, thanks to another bird lover from Germany, this past Sunday we had a grand opening event for the new Garuda flight cage.

Our special guest was Mira Tweti (I swear), who came to give a wonderful talk based on her most recent, generously-titled book Of Parrots and People: The Sometimes Funny, Always Fascinating, and Often Catastrophic Collision of Two Intelligent Species. Besides being an award-winning journalist and educator about the heinous parrot trade, Mira is also an ordained nun in the Zen tradition. She’s working on a new book about parrot rescue aviaries and plans to include Garuda and write a separate article about us for Tricycle Magazine.

A decent crowd turned out (the entrance to the sanctuary building's on the right)...

...and I led the chanting of the practice of Chenresig, the Buddha of Universal Compassion, whose mantra, Om Mani Padme Hung, is said to carry the blessing of a higher rebirth:

The flock’s main caretaker, Christopher, who’s obviously well-loved and vice-versa, was on hand to brag about his charges, such as one of our Green-wing Macaws, Hakan (getting a kiss, left), and Damara...

...as was another of the birds’ buddies, Ani Pema, with Dutsi the Umbrella Cockatoo hamming it up:

And I just found out that all of us, with more color pix, made the front page of the local paper!

Now, as you might imagine, Garuda Aviary’s flock doesn’t feed itself. What with a quality diet, specialized vet services, toys they tear up in a day, etc., their upkeep is quite expensive, actually. So if you feel moved to throw a couple of coins in the basket, I assure you that your kind donation is used in full to directly support the parrots’ welfare.

Phoebe and Merlin thank you!!

(All photos courtesy Ted Kurkowski)

Comments

[minnie]

how appropriate that i read a parrot post on international pirate day? ARRRRR!

answer a question for me. a friend and i had a disagreement as to what female practitioners of buddhism were called. i said they were nuns, and she said they weren't. what say you? (and yes, i noted that you called one woman a nun, but what's the official title?)

[Konchog]

Hi minnie -- if it's an ordained female, in robes like a monk, then yes, we call them nuns. Except at my temple, where I call them "ma'am".

[Leamur]

Maybe she was looking for Ani?

[Konchog]

Or, considering the subject matter of the post, maybe this?

[Sangye]

Too funny, Konchog. Especially where it explains that the Ani bird is a member of the cuckoo family. Sounds about right!