DECEMBER 2014 - AudioFile
Narrator Tamara Marston presents anecdotes of the exotic feathered friends collected and bred by author Michele Raffin at her bird sanctuary, Pandemonium. Marston's narration is clear and even as she describes the different birds under Raffin’s care, as well as Raffin’s family and how they came to work in the field of bird rescue and breeding. Marston herself provides brief vocal imitations of some of the birds. The audio production is also peppered with background sounds of bird song and chatty talking birds, allowing for aural glimpses of the colorful craziness one can imagine at Pandemonium. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
08/04/2014
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.)
From the Publisher
The Birds of Pandemonium does for rare birds what Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief did for rare orchids, Joy Adamson’s Born Free did for lions, and Jane Goodall did for chimpanzees and apes . . . With vibrant photographs of its spectacularly plumed lead characters, The Birds of Pandemonium is a rich suet, seeded with both hearty information and delectable flights of fancy.” —Heller McAlpin, NPR.org “Charming, self-effacing and extremely reverent.” —The New York Times “Captivating.” —Entertainment Weekly “Breezily written and briskly paced.” —The Wall Street Journal “Michele Raffin has written a delightful account of her adventures caring for injured and abandoned birds. It is a good read, full of wonderful accounts of bird behavior, demonstrating caring, learning, sociability, adaptability, and a will to live. Its appeal is ageless, her descriptions riveting, and her devotion to the birds remarkable. I couldn't put it down for wanting to follow her adventures.” —Joanna Burger, author of The Parrot Who Owns Me: A Story of a Relationship “[A] lovely memoir-cum-how-to manual for starting an aviary from scratch . . . Learning from the birds, Raffin has made Pandemonium into a true sanctuary.” —Booklist “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.” —Publishers Weekly “Avian ‘personalities’ predominate in the book, but there are human angles, too, such as how Raffin manages the ups and downs of her demanding calling, the funny family dynamics as she wheedles yet one more bird into the menagerie, and the backstory exposing the secretive 'boys' club of bird breeders with which she contends. The book closes triumphantly with the birth of a rare green-naped pheasant pigeon chick, a notoriously difficult bird to breed in captivity . . . Raffin’s self-deprecating humor endears.” —Library Journal “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
Review quotes
“Michele Raffin has written a delightful account of her adventures caring for injured and abandoned birds. It is a good read, full of wonderful accounts of bird behavior, demonstrating caring, learning, sociability, adaptability, and a will to live. Its appeal is ageless, her descriptions riveting, and her devotion to the birds remarkable. I couldn't put it down for wanting to follow her adventures.” —Joanna Burger, author of The Parrot Who Owns Me: A Story of a Relationship
“Michele Raffin has made an important contribution to saving endangered birds and her book is 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
“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, Animal Planet
“The Birds of Pandemonium touched me deeply. 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. They help all of us see that now more than ever we are needed to play our role in caring for the natural world. This book is about reconnecting with the nature of birds, and the nature of ourselves.” —Jon Young, author of What the Robin Knows
Kirkus Reviews
2014-08-06
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 species—some of which have been illegally captured in the wild—and taken on the additional task of breeding them in captivity. Not only did the learning process prove "daunting," it also required strategic planning—finding 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.
