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

Technorati Tags: bird whisperer, ken globus

There’s no catch. These videos are really free…

See, Chet is just 2 weeks away from releasing tickets to his first-ever “Advanced Parrot Training, Handling, and Health Seminar” that he’ll be hosting at a world-class resort in Florida this coming January.

So to celebrate, he’s giving away this FREE Sneak Preview of the caliber of parrot training secrets he’ll be revealing for the first time ever, live on stage, at this event in this special three-part video series.

In video #1, you’ll discover the secret to NEVER being afraid of getting bitten or nipped by your bird again by learning to read what I call your parrot’s “Fear Feather’s.”

This training principle is so powerful, and so effective, you’ll be able to use it to guarantee your spouse, kids, other family members and friends can handle your bird safely, without ever getting bitten, too!

To watch it now, visit: https://www.birdtricks.com/watchthevideos

And pay attention to your email… Because I’ll be sending you TWO MORE free videos like this one over the next 2 weeks!

Enjoy…

Michael Camire
Bird Buffet N Things

P.S. On this page, you’ll also find out how you can qualify to win over $5,000 in parrot training supplies and private consultations.

Visit https://www.birdtricks.com/watchthevideos to get all the details.

Follow me, Pratbirdman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pratbirdman

Technorati Tags: bird behavior, bird enrichment, bird taming, bird training, exotic bird training, parrot behavior, parrot taming, parrot training

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I set him on his perch and took 2 steps back. I held my arm out and said 'come'…I was close enough that he could almost reach me with his beak but far enough that he actually had to jump. When he jumped from his perch to my arm I praised him BIGTIME (good bird!!!! good bird!!! scratch his head if he likes that) and gave him a small piece of peanut. I told him 'go back' and set him back on his perch. I waited until he finished his peanut btw! He didn't want to do anything until it was GONE! lol. so make sure that you give him small pieces that he can chew up quickly. Once he was comfortable going that short distance I took another step back and did the same process. We've been working on this for about a week and now I can go about 6 feet away and say 'come' and he'll fly to me. he caught on within the first session it was just a matter of getting him over the fear of flying so far. Pick a treat that he only gets when in training. I use peanuts or …gasp!….fruit loops lol But make sure that he can chew them fast! for instance I break the peanuts into 4 pcs. Also, be sure to end the training session while the your parrot is still 'interested'….you want him to think that this is game and not work. Therefore, cut the session down and quit while he is still having fun. For my greenwing the fact that I get so excited about what he is learning makes him really excited. You can see that he is proud that he pleased me and is having a great time. I made the mistake of making it seem like work the first few lessons by not stopping. He finally got tired and turned his back on me lol. 15 minute sessions are good!

Good Luck!

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I guess that my top tips for bird training are:

1) Establish you're top in the pecking order in a non-threatening way by appearing taller than the bird. Lower the cage slightly. This lessons power struggles and makes the bird less defensive.

2) Make the bird feel at ease in your presence by gentle introduction to him and lots of soothing talk before starting any form of training.

3) Associate simple phrases with certain actions for example my parrot responds to 'step up' onto the arm, gets back into the cage to 'time for bed' and recognises he's overstepped his mark with 'bad bird' and then puts himself in his cage! He is rewarded with a head tickle (his favourite) if he does things when asked except obviously the 'bad bird' signal when he knows he's done wrong and gets some cage time as a result.

4) Reward your parrot with praise, fuss and occasionally a small food treat

5) Make learning and playtime fun with 'outside cage' toys and treats. Learning in small doses is also best, and let him learn, master and use his new tricks/commands confidently before introducing the next. Regularly practice old routines in the proper context so that the parrot remembers them.

.. and above all be consistent. They're very intelligent and are more than capable of understanding simple requests if they are clearly made.

And above all, learning should be fun for the parrot. If he's enjoying learning new things and getting lots of praise, reward and positive reinforcement, he's likely to pick up tricks and games very quickly.

Hope this helps!
Kez

(Owner of 8 year old Charlie)

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Tags: exoticbird training, parrot training, bird training, bird behavior, parrot behavior

It's a virtual coaching club of parrot training — almost a multimedia encyclopedia with articles and videos. I like it because it's a one-stop site that saves the trouble of looking all over for specialist advice.

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Really just parrot training in general, and anything particularly geared towards conures (green cheeked)

Also, if anyone has any of their own tips on the matter all information is welcome. I'm considering getting a rescued green cheeked conure and I'm also interested in hearing about peoples experiences with this breed.

Look on You Tube (parrots talking).

I think this will help also, they have all the articles you asked about.

http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-magazines/bird-talk/default.aspx

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It's comprehensive and clearly organized. Plus it's also updated regularly so your questions should be well addressed at this forum. Try it out.

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