Meet The Wild Parrots Of Beverly Hills 90210!
This morning I was walking through the beautiful, palm tree-lined streets in Beverly Hills, and I heard a very familiar sound coming from these palm trees:
This tree-lined street is filled with wild parrots! These noisy neighbors hang out, fly around, and talk talk talk!
Writer Michael Ashcroft reported on this phenomenon on Patch last year. He wrote:
“High in the leafy treetops or flying overhead, thousands of screeching parrots and parakeets are taking over Los Angeles skies, invaders who are thriving thousands of miles away from their native habitat.
Now called “California wild parrots,” the burgeoning bird population has gone native. Their ancestors were trapped in the tropical forests of South America and Africa and sold here as pets before an importation ban went into effect in the 1980s – and illegally afterward.
Kimball Garrett, of the California Parrot Project at the Natural History Museum is Los Angeles, said “dozens of species” numbering about 5,000 have taken up residence all over Southern California.
“They’re commuters. They’re extremely social. That’s why they fly in large numbers,” Garrett said. “They fly long distances to find food yet can be very loud and heard from far. Most of them don’t cause much harm” to our local environment.”
Bravo to Photographer Terri Chapman, who captured this amazing shot of red-crowned parrots nestled in the trees. Although I didn’t see any this time, I captured a minute of their animated “conversation” in the palm trees on Bedford street in Beverly Hills – take a listen:
I have seen the parrots sitting in trees and flying around before, but they were so noisy today I wanted to share with everyone. They are also found in Santa Monica, Pasadena and many other parts of Los Angeles as well.
Australia’s Unique Birds!
I also had a funny experience with some wailing birds when I was in Sydney Australia.
These birds had a funny cadence – two normal cries, then a strange third one that sounded like the air was being let out of them! Listen:
I came across a number of interesting things in Australia, like these “bugs”:
A strange combo of shrimp and lobster, they were delicious…my Host Alison Haislip had some, as well as a strange tower of food!
See more of that adventure here:
Let me know if you’ve heard the birds of Beverly Hills!
