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A review by sasha_in_a_box
The Birds of Pandemonium: Life Among the Exotic and the Endangered by Michele Raffin
5.0
I need to add a "biiiiirds" shelf on here, since I've been slightly bird-crazy lately. But for good reason! Birds are awesome, and I can't have one so I'm living vicariously through these bird-nerds and their loud and crazy lives.
I used to think I wasn't much into nonfiction because I've read some boring stuff, but books like this one give them a good name. There wasn't a single boring sentence throughout. Michele Raffin rose from clueless bird-noob with a soft spot for an injured dove to an owner of one of the most successful bird sanctuaries in the world in about ten years. She has large flocks of amazing birds such as the Victoria crown pigeon
Green naped pheasant pigeon
I looked up all the birds she mentioned, and some of them are unbelievably gorgeous:
Lady Gouldian Finch
Bleeding Heart Pigeon
Plum-headed Parakeet
The Diva-licious African Crane
And many more.
Michele Raffin writes with amazing empathy for these birds. I never knew how strong their personalities were or just how tightly they can wrap a measly human around their finger. Her dedication is nothing I've seen before. I'm pretty blown away by how this woman found birds, how much she invested in them right off the bat, and how she barely hesitated to let birds take over her life. She's sure lucky to have a pretty great husband and kids, who seem to just shake their heads and chuckle at their crazy bird poop-covered Michele yet run and help when needed. Especially her husband who got singled out by Amigo the parrot with an affectionate nickname of "Asshole!" What a fun house to live in.
It's too bad that the aviary is closed to the public, because I'd go visit Pandemonium when in SF. I'll just keep watching her youtube videos and looking at pretty bird pictures.
The females of the Eclectus parrot are always blue and red, and the males are green! So cool!
-I got a free copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review-
I used to think I wasn't much into nonfiction because I've read some boring stuff, but books like this one give them a good name. There wasn't a single boring sentence throughout. Michele Raffin rose from clueless bird-noob with a soft spot for an injured dove to an owner of one of the most successful bird sanctuaries in the world in about ten years. She has large flocks of amazing birds such as the Victoria crown pigeon
Green naped pheasant pigeon
I looked up all the birds she mentioned, and some of them are unbelievably gorgeous:
Lady Gouldian Finch
Bleeding Heart Pigeon
Plum-headed Parakeet
The Diva-licious African Crane
And many more.
Michele Raffin writes with amazing empathy for these birds. I never knew how strong their personalities were or just how tightly they can wrap a measly human around their finger. Her dedication is nothing I've seen before. I'm pretty blown away by how this woman found birds, how much she invested in them right off the bat, and how she barely hesitated to let birds take over her life. She's sure lucky to have a pretty great husband and kids, who seem to just shake their heads and chuckle at their crazy bird poop-covered Michele yet run and help when needed. Especially her husband who got singled out by Amigo the parrot with an affectionate nickname of "Asshole!" What a fun house to live in.
It's too bad that the aviary is closed to the public, because I'd go visit Pandemonium when in SF. I'll just keep watching her youtube videos and looking at pretty bird pictures.
The females of the Eclectus parrot are always blue and red, and the males are green! So cool!
-I got a free copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review-