City’s wild parrots color up the Richmond
Thursday, August 23, 2012 at 22:12
City Parrots in Aratinga erythrogenys - Red-masked Parakeet, Urban parrots

They're just fine with the fog: A group of bright green parrots feed on berries on a tree in the Richmond Tuesday. Image by Ben Lobenstein A company of chirpy, bright-green wild parrots has been spotted in the Richmond, chomping on plump berries in a tree near 27th and Balboa.

RichmondSFBlog reader Ben Lobenstein snapped pictures of a dozen or so birds Tuesday morning.

Mark Bittner documented the now-famous flock of cherry-headed conures in his book and documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.

Richmond district parrots. Image by Ben Lobenstein.It would be a shame if rent in the Telegraph Hill area was the culprit in pushing the birds out of their roosts in the shadow of Coit Tower.

But it’s more likely that this flock is just hanging out near the western edge of its range, which extends from the north side of the Financial District west through the Presidio.

Similar birds have been spotted around the Laurel Heights area as early as 1998.

Earlier this year, the Chron followed a group of parrots who split from the Telegraph Hill flock and migrated down to Brisbane, south of The City.

Article originally appeared on (http://cityparrots.org/).
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