At a California Sanctuary, One Woman's Battle to Save Endangered Birds
Birds mourn, love, court, have emotional memory, and make decisions about who they like and who they don't like, author says.
In 1996, Michele Raffin, author of The Birds of Pandemonium: Life Among the Exotic and the Endangered, opened a bird rescue center. Today, Pandemonium is one of the largest non-companion bird sanctuaries in the United States, providing lifelong care for more than 350 birds, representing 34 species, some of them critically endangered.
Talking from her bird-filled office in Los Altos, California, she introduces us to a two-inch-tall avian architect named Oscar and explains why birds prefer listening to Jingle Bells over Leonard Cohen, how you can break a parrot's heart, and why birds have made her a better person.
There's the real reason, and then there's the official reason. The official reason is that pandemonium is the flock name for
