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Summary
Summary
"A remarkable book. Reading about the birds of Pandemonium will make you laugh and cry; it will make you see more clearly the need to take care of our planet; and it will confirm that one person with a passion can make a difference." --Jeff Corwin, nature conservationist and host of Animal Planet
Each morning at first light, Michele Raffin steps outside into the bewitching bird music that heralds another day at Pandemonium Aviaries. A full symphony that swells from the most vocal of more than 350 avian throats representing more than 40 species. "It knocks me out, every day," she says.
Pandemonium, the home and bird sanctuary that Raffin shares with some of the world's most remarkable birds, is a conservation organization dedicated to saving and breeding birds at the edge of extinction, with the goal of eventually releasing them into the wild. In The Birds of Pandemonium, she lets us into her world--and theirs. Birds fall in love, mourn, rejoice, and sacrifice; they have a sense of humor, invent, plot, and cope. They can teach us volumes about the interrelationships of humans and animals.
Their amazing stories make up the heart of this book. There's Sweetie, a tiny quail with an outsize personality; the inspiring Oscar, a disabled Lady Gouldian finch who can't fly but finds a brilliant way to climb to the highest perches of his aviary to roost. The ecstatic reunion of a disabled Victoria crowned pigeon, Wing, and her brother, Coffee, is as wondrous as the silent kinship that develops between Amadeus, a one-legged turaco, and an autistic young visitor.
As we come to know the individual birds, we also come to understand how much is at stake for many of these species. One of the aviary's greatest success stories is breeding the gorgeous green-naped pheasant pigeon, whose home in the New Guinea rainforest is being decimated. Thanks to efforts at Pandemonium, these birds may not share the same fate as the now-extinct dodo.
The Birds of Pandemonium is about one woman's crusade to save precious lives, and it offers rare insights into how following a passion can transform not only oneself but also the world.
"A delightful account. Its appeal is ageless, her descriptions riveting, and her devotion to the birds remarkable." -- Joanna Burger, author of The Parrot Who Owns Me
"A fascinating and rarely seen glimpse behind the scenes. The joy she gets from her close relationships with these amazing animals and her outsized commitment to them comes through loud and clear in this engaging and joyful book." --Dominick Dorsa, Curator of Birds, San Francisco Zoo
"Reading this wonderful book, one cannot help but realize how much intelligence and beauty there is throughout the bird world. The birds are Michele Raffin's teachers, awakening a deep sense of commitment to caring for our collective future . . . This book is about reconnecting with the nature of birds, and the nature of ourselves."
--Jon Young, author of What the Robin Knows
Author Notes
Michele Raffin is president of Pandemonium Aviaries, a conservation organization dedicated to saving birds. A former high-tech executive, Raffin began taking in abandoned and discarded birds fifteen years ago, housing them in her backyard a half hour south of San Francisco. Today Pandemonium is still in Raffin's backyard, but it is now one of the premier facilities breeding and caring for avian species facing extinction due to the destruction of their natural habitats. The aviary has the largest population of rare green-naped pheasant pigeons under conservation in the world and the second largest population of the endangered Victoria crowned pigeons. Raffin, who also lives with turacos, lorikeets, East African cranes, finches, and doves (as well as parrots, donkeys, goats, two dogs, and one cat!) is a dedicated avian advocate and a passionate observer of birdlife, and in The Birds of Pandemonium her enthusiasm for and special relationship with these winged creatures comes through radiantly. A certified aviculturist and regular consultant to zoos and breeders, Raffin has spoken at the TEDx conference, is the conservation columnist for the Avicultural Society of America's Avicultural Bulletin, and has served as cochair of a large humane society and on the board of a companion bird rescue organization. And on a completely different note, Raffin won a gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Olympic Weight Lifting Championship and holds the Pan American Masters record.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Raffin, Avicultural Bulletin columnist and founder of the Pandemonium Aviaries bird sanctuary, describes the trajectory of her accidental career as a breeder of endangered species in this anecdotal, entertaining memoir. In 1996 a random encounter and subsequent rescue of a wounded dove on the Lawrence Highway led Raffin to Louis Brown, a local bird breeder, who took Raffin and her newfound avian interest under his wing. At the time, the Wild Bird Conservation Act of 1992 had given rise to a surfeit of homeless doves and pigeons throughout the U.S. (in the words of the author, From the late 1990s until around 2010, it was raining birds,)--many of which Raffin went on to adopt. She recounts her experiences over the years providing shelter to a of variety birds, including a red-headed, potty-mouthed Amazon parrot called Amigo, a quail named Sweetie, and Harli and Peeki, a pair of gay lorikeets. Raffin's passionate advocacy for birds is reminiscent of Jane Goodall's support for great apes. The author emerges as a knowledgeable and, above all, endearing champion of animals, who practices what she preaches. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Raffin recounts how a chance encounter with an injured dove proved to be a life-changing experience. Fifteen years ago, the author, now a conservation columnist for the Aviculture Society of America, was a stay-at-home mom who had put her career as a Silicon Valley executive on hold in order to care for her sons. When her trainer showed up late for their appointment at the gym, he explained that he had stopped to move an injured dove to the side of the highway. Raffin went back with him to pick up the bird and take it to a veterinarian; though it eventually died, the seeds of her new vocation were planted. A newspaper advertisement led to her agreeing to take in a pet dove in need of a home, and she was hooked. More birds followed, and she became a volunteer at a local bird shelter and then a certified aviculturist, after which she joined an informal network of experts. Raffin had found her calling, opening her home to a wide variety of birds. The author describes how, over the years, she has gained expertise in housing rare, endangered speciessome of which have been illegally captured in the wildand taken on the additional task of breeding them in captivity. Not only did the learning process prove "daunting," it also required strategic planningfinding mates, "incubating eggs, hatching them, and caring for the babies." By 2010, Pandemonium Aviaries, which had begun on a whim (fostering birds in need of a home), was a premier conservation-breeding operation playing an important global role in saving endangered species. "I've learned that their behavior is far more fascinating than their plumage" writes the author, "and that 'birdbrain!' is the finest of compliments." A charming memoir about birds and the people who love them. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Oscar, the flightless Gouldian finch, was the inspiration for aviculturist Raffin's conservation aviary, Pandemonium Aviaries. Though unable to fly, Oscar's determination to get up to higher perches taught Raffin to observe his behavior, improvise a solution to his problem, and ultimately achieve success, with Oscar not only perching up where he wanted but also able later to get to a nesting area and produce chicks. Oscar's story is the theme of this lovely memoir-cum-how-to manual for starting an aviary from scratch. There was the rescue of an injured white dove, which led to Raffin's lifelong love affair with the pigeon family and her eventual successful breeding of endangered Victoria crowned pigeons. An Amazon parrot, the victim of too many previous owners, decided he loved Raffin's son, which opened the door to more rescued parrots and to learning how to work with emotionally damaged birds. Learning from the birds, Raffin has made Pandemonium into a true sanctuary.--Bent, Nancy Copyright 2014 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Aviculturist Raffin runs Pandemonium Aviaries, a nonprofit exotic bird sanctuary near San Francisco. The former Silicon Valley executive stumbled into the world of aviculture when she rescued an injured dove. Raffin's memoir shares her journey from novice animal lover to knowledgeable conservation breeder in stand-alone chapters, with each one focusing on notable birds Raffin has cared for and what they taught her about aviculture and herself. Given the author's stated passion for conservation, it's a shame her book doesn't delve into greater detail about Pandemonium Aviaries' conservation efforts or its success. It's a missed opportunity when, as Raffin notes in the epilog, education about conversation issues is sorely needed. As a bonus feature of the audiobook, each chapter opens with a brief snippet of birdsong recorded at the sanctuary. Narrator Tamara Marston handles the many bird imitations well. Philotherians will adore Raffin's humorous and ecologically minded book. VERDICT Recommended for all public library collections. ["Animal lovers will likely forgive the author her stylistic lapses and read appreciatively of her many strong works," read the review of the Algonquin hc, LJ 8/14.] Julie Judkins, Univ. of North Texas, Denton (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Preface The Tao of Oscar, Architect Finch | p. 1 |
| 1 Morning at Pandemonium | p. 9 |
| 2 One Dove Leads to Another, and Another... | p. 28 |
| 3 Bird Fever: One More Is No Big Deal | p. 49 |
| 4 Do You Speak Bird? | p. 60 |
| 5 It Was Raining Birds | p. 73 |
| 6 Amigo: A Bird and His Boy | p. 81 |
| 7 Wing and Coffee: Crowned Glories | p. 98 |
| 8 Let's Have Babies | p. 106 |
| 9 Mail-Order Bride | p. 118 |
| 10 Tico: The Bird Lady Gets Schooled | p. 133 |
| 11 Hello, Pretty Mama | p. 155 |
| 12 The Flock in Peril: Mice, Men, and Microbes | p. 168 |
| 13 Lets Get Serious | p. 185 |
| 14 Blessed Events | p. 195 |
| Epilogue | p. 208 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 217 |