Parrots may be endangered in the wild but they are doing fine in O.C.
Yellow-headed Amazon (Amazona oratrix)Parrots might be gravely endangered in their native rain forests, but not in Orange County, where they've taken up residence in large flocks, attracting both love and hate from people who share their space.
There's a mystery attached to the birds' presence. No one is exactly sure how they got here. One popular theory is that their ancestors escaped from commercial bird importers, surviving because they were wild birds that knew how to forage for food. Another is simply that they migrated north from rain forests in Central and South America.
Lilac-crowned, Red-crowned & Red-lored amazon (A. finschi, A. viridigenalis, A. autumnalis)Large flocks exist in Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin and elsewhere in the county. Some flocks can number hundreds of birds. They generally eat fruit and nuts of exotic plants that, like themselves, have been imported from tropical climates.
Amazon parrots found here include endangered red-crowned parrots, lilac-crowned parrots, red-lored parrots, white-fronted parrots, yellow-headed parrots and blue-fronted parrots. They can be distinguished by stocky bodies and short, squared tails. Mitred parakeets are also common here.
These birds would live far apart in their natural habitat ranges and would never meet, but in Orange County they share friendship and flocks.
One of the main complaints people have is that wild parrots are extremely noisy. That is an adaptation mechanism that allowed the birds, which are green and live in green-leafed trees, to call to and identify one another over long distances.
Red-lored amazon (Amazona autumnalis)Questions and answers about wild parrots in Orange County
The California Parrot Project was founded in 1994 by Kimball Garrett of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, in an attempt to document this unusual gathering of creatures that are endangered in the wild.
His work has been expanded by people like Mike Bowles and Loretta Erickson, who have photographed and documented parrots in Orange County since 2001.
The Westminster couple has taken thousands of photographs of the exotic avian, following their flocks to the point where they have gotten to know individual birds by their markings. We asked Erickson recently about her fascination with the birds:
Q: Where are wild parrots found?
A:All over California. The largest flock in Southern California is in Temple City. Here, they are in Old Towne Orange, Fullerton, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana. There are mitred parakeets around Cal State Long Beach.
Q: What's the most unusual bird here?
A:There's one little Senegal parrot from Africa living in the city of Orange. Obviously he did not migrate here.
Q: What's the most common question you get asked when you speak to groups?
A:One of the first questions I'm asked is, "How do I catch one?" But wild parrots don't make good pets. They have a nasty bite and they scream incessantly to go back to their flocks.
Q: But what if I want a parrot for a pet?
A:There's a rescue organization here that is always looking for good homes for tame parrots. Go to www.lilysanctuary.org or call 714-442-9474.
Q: What problems do the wild parrots have here?
A:Just in the last year I have heard of 10 parrots being shot out of the sky here. That really upsets me.
Q: Do the parrots compete with native bird species for food?
A:No. They live off exotic plant life that our birds don't eat. They like magnolia blossoms, nut and fruit trees, jacarandas.
Q: Why are parrots endangered in their native habitat?
A:Because of the pet trade and also habitat depletion. The U.S. has not allowed importation of wild-caught parrots into the country since the 1980s
Red-crowned amazons (Amazona viridigenalis)Urban myths
Some urban myths about how wild parrots arrived in Orange County.No one knows precisely how wild parrots from Central and South America got to Orange County. Perhaps one or more of these urban legends are true:
A pet shop caught on fire and the owner set the caged birds free so they would not be burned up. A variation on this has the firefighters setting the birds free.
Authorities were about to break up a wild-parrot smuggling ring, and the smugglers set the birds free before they could be collected as evidence.
A truck that was hauling wild exotic birds was involved in a car accident. The cages fell from the truck and the birds escaped.
They escaped from the aviary of an exotic-bird lover.
An eccentric elderly person released them from cages so they could be free.
The birds migrated here on their own.
Urban myths courtesy of Loretta Erickson