Monthly Archive for: ‘ August, 2011 ’

Dear Friends, Birds are not the only things flying at Pandemonium Aviaries. Time also has wings. It seems as if one moment I am worrying about winter rains and the next I’m turning on cooling sprinklers. Summer is truly a wonderful time to live with birds. Many of them are busy building nests. Thanks to …

According to the dictionary, a dove is a gentle person, or one who prefers peace to war or conflict. It is a term of endearment and care, used to express a certain delicacy, as in Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s “Great Chinese Dragon”, with his “womankind milkwhite and dove-breasted”. We love doves. Even Urban Dictionary, whose definitions of …

Sharon Beltracchi is a senior at Stanford University where she is majoring in Environmental Science. She hopes to work at a zoo or an aquarium where she can help wildlife and educate the public about conservation. This summer at Pandemonium, Sharon is spending most of her time on behavior and enrichment training. She is working on …

At one time, almost all coffee was grown in the shade of a forest canopy. This shade grown coffee supported an eco-system that helped conserve water sheds, did not require pesticides (birds provided natural pest control), helped control soil quality and provided habitat for many animals, including birds. Now, most coffee is sun-grown in deforested …