Loud, green and exotic

Early one morning, on October 25th to be exact, I was wandering around the Zoo entrance plaza, looking at the birds that frequent the bird feeders. There are some large date palms near the entrance, and there was a lot of commotion going on them because the dates were near ripe and a lot of birds were in haste to feast on them. I recognized the jays and the acorn woodpeckers, but something green and loud up in the tree didn't look like it belonged there at all! Only looking through my zoom lens I recognized the noise makers as parakeets. With some Internet research we later identified them as yellow-chevroned parakeets (Brotogeris chiriri).




Earlier this year Roxy and I were hiking in Temescal Canyon and spotted some black-hooded parakeets (Nandayus nenday). They were too high up in the trees to take good photos, so we took some bad ones just for identification.



My friend reports seeing large green birds at her college campus in Pasadena. There are many other sightings all over LA...

So, what's the problem?

Parrots and parakeets don’t belong in Los Angeles area. Their home is far away in South American jungle. The only reason we occasionally see parrots in our backyards is because sometime, somewhere somebody released their pet parrots into the wild, either accidentally, or because they were no longer able or willing to take care of them. This happens only too often nowadays, and there are many examples of how this irresponsible introduction of new species has led to a disaster. Remember what rabbits did to Australia?

What can possibly be dangerous about such a beautiful bird? Consider this: most parakeets nest in tree cavities. In their native environment, this was their specialization, which allowed them to escape predators and probably no compete with other birds that nest elsewhere. But in Southern California there alredy were birds that nest in tree cavities. Woodpeckers are a good example. So, what happens when a large and agressive birds have already taken over the best nesting sites and are eating the best food? I'll let you figure that out on your own.

So, even though parrots and parakeets are fun, colorful, exotic and loud, having them in our area could be a problem. There are studies going on to determine how they are affecting native species. Here is a link to the one Museum of Natural History is conducting: http://californiaparrotproject.org/. You may report your parrot sightings there, too.