I don’t know if I mentioned this before. But a few years ago we discovered that our house lied in the path of a parrot migration route. We learned this one day when Beth called animal control thinking that a bunch of parrots had escaped from somewhere because they were all in our neighbor’s tree.
I like walking outside my door and hearing their chatter.
It’s become one of those things that indicate another year has gone by. I don’t know where they’re going or where they’ve come from but seeing them pause for a few days in that tree always makes me happy.
They’re like our neighborhood’s version of the swallows of Capistrano.
Jorge, I’ve lived in West L.A. most of my life, and the parrots use to come thru every year. I kind of got so use to it, that until your post, I hadn’t even noticed I haven’t seen them in several years. Guess they like your house better than mine
. Send them my love!
Beautiful California. For more extensive footage and specified detailed information on the varied parrots of California visit a Youtube channel dedicated to these birds known as Californiaflocks.
As a bird lover, I am very envious.
This is so cool!!!
Loved this! And the video drove one of my cats CRAZY!
) He was looking all around trying to figure out what was going on. Great for a morning giggle!!! Thanks for sharing the happy chatter!
I grew up in west Los Angeles by Mar Vista and we used to have the same thing happen. It was pretty cool when they came and visited.
I found info on your birds at http://www.californiaparrotproject.org/mitred_parakeet.html
By the way, its good to hear from you again.
Totally reminds me of my Conure Kumquat (he got that name because he would babble a lot with something that sounded as such. I would be the idiot trying to climb in the tree to capture one.
I love this! But I tend to like annual things.
Beautiful!
mmmmmm…parrot
I miss reading your blogs!! (I still haven’t even sent a gift for christmas yet.. I’m a lagger this year!) I lived in South Pasadena and did the same thing when I saw a flock of them on our porch… enjoying a snack of grapes I had left on the table. They’re so cool. Glad to see I’m not the only one who loves them!!
Jorge
still living in the VALLEY? Then sadly its not migration, its escapism. A bunch of parrots escaped and have bred and now flocks of them fly the skies. Reminds me of the wild ones in the old Gold Coast of Australia. But keep watch, they are here to stay!
http://www.californiaparrotproject.org/id_guide.html
There is a large flock that lives in Malibu. Maybe there’s something in your neighbor’s trees that they like to eat.
Pasadena, California has a large, non-indigenous population of naturalized parrots. According to the “Parrot Project of Los Angeles”, the parrots are of at least five species.Residents have come to enjoy the birds as part of their unique city’s culture,and like other SoCal residents they have become “local icons” to the citizens there. Many theories surround the mystery of how the parrots landed in Pasadena and claimed the area as their own. A widely accepted story is that they were part of the stock that were set free for their survival from the large pet emporium at Simpson’s Garden Town on East Colorado Boulevard, which burned down in 1959.
Happens in Brooklyn, too!
http://www.brooklynparrots.com/2005/03/what-are-wild-parrots-doing-in.html
Thanks for this link! I live in Pasadena and a huge flock of these guys flies over our house every day as the sun is setting. They’re so chatty when they fly!
We saw those every year when we lived in Texas! Apparently someone started a wild bird population when they let their pets escape. There would be hundreds of them sitting on the telephone wires at dusk! Crazy lines of green birds!
I wish my place had parrots!
Where I live parrots arrive sometimes. They get in windows sill and beck wood. But they aren´t migrating, they scape I don´t know from where…
Utterly Cool. I hope they are migratory, even if it is from one bit of non-native California to another. I had an encouter with a BIG tom turkey the other day. I’d seen tukeys in the more rural areas, but usually just hens. This was a strutting male with all feathers furled at the driveway to my condo parking lot. There may have been a lady around, but I didn’t see her. Encounters with nature are wonderful!
Celandine
ask your library to find you the 2005 movie “the wild parrots of telegraph hill”. documentary.
That’s really interesting–I never think about parrots migrating! One year in DeKalb, IL we had such a long stretch of fog that some kind of parakeet that didn’t usually come so far north got lost and ended up in OUR trees!
New Orleans has a flock of escapees as well. http://www.squidoo.com/wild-quaker-parrots-of-new-orleans
I think birds are pretty cool.
my cat Dexter would like our house to be in the path of all those birds…nommm.
Hi Jorge. What a beautiful thing to witness. Hubby and I were fortunate to see a red parrot in our Vegas neighborhood one day. I snapped a photo and it quickly left–never to return. It is a sight I will never forget.
When I was a kid, the Monarch Butterflies used to migrate through the field behind our Beach house, but then their migration muct have shifted because they stopped showing up. It was very pretty and it felt magical to see a field of butterflies. Parrots would be fun too. I used to stop and watch the red headed woodpecker that lived in the tree at the back of my Mom’s property, but the last hurricane blew the tree down. At first I worried about the woodpecker, but then I saw him sittng on a fence. He must have found a new home elsewhere, because after that, I never saw him again.
Also, my son that has Autism is fascinated with Parrots.
very cool- I didn’t know that……We’re bird crazy over here too!
Interesting! I never knew parrots migrated in LA area. I guess I always think of parrots being in the Caribbean…lol They are such beautiful birds. So lucky to have them right in your backyard….