The Birds of Pandemonium: Life Among the Exotic & the Endangered

by Michele Raffin

Overview

The founder of a rare bird sanctuary shares a look at the lives of exotic birds and the people who care for them in this "anecdotal, entertaining memoir" (Publishers Weekly)
Michele Raffin is the founder of Pandemonium Aviaries, a conservation organization dedicated to saving and breeding birds at the edge of extinction. It is home to some of the largest populations of rare species in the world. And their behavior is even more fascinating than their glorious plumage or their songs.
Among the many avian characters we meet are Sweetie, a tiny quail with an outsize personality; Oscar, a Lady Gouldian finch who finds a way to reach the highest perches of his aviary to roost despite not being able to fly; and Amigo, an Amazon parrot with a surprisingly rude vocabulary. These birds fall in love, mourn lost loved ones, share jokes, feel jealous—and sometimes even murder each other.
Ultimately, The Birds of Pandemonium is about one woman's crusade to save precious lives, bird by bird, and offers insights into how following a passion can transform not only oneself but also the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781616204273
Publisher:	Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Publication date:	04/08/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	199
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Michele Raffin was a high-tech executive, venture-capital consultant, and writer before deciding to devote her time to saving animals. Her books include Love That Lasts, The Good Nanny Book, and The Birds of Pandemonium. A lifelong animal lover, she was the cochair of the Board of Directors of a large humane society for ?ve years and served on the board of a companion bird rescue organization. Her passion for conservation and protection of the natural world is focused on saving bird species from extinction. Raffin holds degrees from Tufts University and Stanford University School of Business, and she has also won a gold medal at the Pan-American Masters' weightlifting games.Tamara Marston has been an actor, singer, and director for more than thirty years. A career performer and musician, she has toured nationally with several groups and appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show and A&E's Goodtime Café. Dividing her time between acting and singing gigs, choral conducting, music and stage directing, jingle and voice-over work, private and public teaching, and family, Tami feels very fortunate to make her living working in the arts.

What People are Saying About This

Jeff Corwin

“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

Editorial Reviews

The first thing to know about this book is that you don't have to be a species-counting birdwatcher or a professional naturalist to enjoy it. In fact, Michele Raffin's engaging account of living with and saving exotic endangered species has the power to enthrall and educate even the most resolute stay-at-home urbanites. The Birds of Pandemonium borrows part of its name from Pandemonium Aviaries, the bird conservation group that she founded and where she spends long hours observing, caring for and protecting dozens of endangered species. Her stories about the interactions of these unique winged creatures remind us that we are human and we are not alone.

“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

Review quotes

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

From the Publisher

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.

Kirkus Reviews