Champion & Novice top Rare and Intermediate

2010 All American ABS Judge, Carl Slavin

will be judging the Champion and Novice Divisions
with the Junior Division yet to be determined.

I have been breeding exhibition budgies since 1969. I became a judge in Canada in 1975. I joined ABS in 1977 and have been a member ever since. I was encouraged to join the ABS Judges Panel by my friends Hugh Wilson, Lou Smaldino and Don Denny. I applied and in 1988 I was accepted. I have competed at many All-Americans and have placed in the top ten and best hens on a fairly regular basis. I also have competed in Canada winning the Canadian National Show at least once each decade since the 1970’s.

I am currently the Vice-Chair of the World Budgerigar Organization and continue to work to develop the hobby world wide. Due to my exposure at the WBO I have been fortunate to be invited to Judge in many parts of the world including National shows in Brazil, Belgium, England, Germany, Ireland and Scotland. I also had the honor of being the first North American to be invited to judge the Budgerigar Society “World
Championship Show”.

There are few places in the ABS community that I have not judged or visited from Florida where I won my first ABS show to Hawaii where I saw my first Spangle. I have previously judged All-Americans, but this will be my first time doing the Champion Division. I am thrilled to have Walt Howard as my judging partner as I was his mentor when he passed his exams.

I am married 29 years now and we have two children, now adults. We reside in the greater Vancouver area in British Columbia, Canada. I have a very small stud of birds. I go into each breeding season with 60 birds and hope to breed 60 more. My stud is primarily made up of Belgian/Holland imports bred into my original line. I have recently rejoined the ABS Judges Panel after a brief retirement and look forward to competing at future All-Americans.

The fact that three clubs got together to host this All-American Show is a testament to their membership. My final ABS Judges Panel test was held in San Diego so, it is an honor to be invited back on this occasion. I thank the members for the invitation and will do my best to make the weekend enjoyable for all including the winners.

Carl Slavin
ABS Panel Judge

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2010 All American ABS Judge, Walt Howard

will be judging the Rare and Intermediate Divisions
with the Junior Division yet to be determined.

I was born in Bell CA, but lived most of my childhood years in WI. My parents moved around quite a bit and my first interest in birds started with pigeons in Mesa, AZ at the age of 10. An older neighbor boy had a flight of mixed pigeons and I was fascinated by them. I traded my Mickey Mouse watch for two pair. Our stay in AZ was short as we moved back to WI and I had to leave my pigeons behind.

In WI I started with breeding pigeons and built my own aviary with the help of my dad. I had many varieties and at one point had about 1000 pigeons. I attended the show in Kohler WI where there were several thousand pigeons on exhibition. Some of my favorite varieties were fantails, swallows and bocara trumpeters. Then my interest turned to cars and I discovered girls, oh my. At age 16 I sold my entire stud to my father as then he became quite interested in the birds also.

After high school, college, the military service and a career in real estate in Milwaukee I decided to move to Florida with my wife, Mari and became a broker again in Florida. In our area there were flocks of wild parakeets, quakers and other exotics. I made a bird trap out of curiosity and caught 14 greens parakeets, 1 blue and 1 yellow. Shortly after that I discovered the English Budgie and I was impressed by their appearance. We also became interested in the exotics and now on our bird farm we have bred many species of pscittacines. My primary interest is in the budgies and I became an ABS panel judge in 1990. Through the budgie fancy we have made many friends and enjoyed the competition and the challenge of breeding top bench budgies.

Walt Howard
ABS Panel Judge

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