The San Francisco Wild Parrots
by Diana Clarke
In March 2002, we started looking for a new home in the Sacramento area since my husband would retire in May. After finding a place, my husband headed back to Redondo Beach but I visited my folks in San Francisco, my hometown, and wanted to see some Cherry-headed Conures that I read about online at the California Parrot Project.
I’d been visiting my parents every few months, not knowing that these lovely birds were there all the while. I sent an email to Mark Bittner, the man who knows the San Francisco parrots by name and has been hand feeding them for years. He told me where to look for them. “You should be able to find them at the Greenwitch steps and at Waldon Square in the early evening.”
So on March 30, I took the L-Taraval Streetcar downtown to the Embarcadero. At around 2 p.m., I walked over to the Greenwitch steps and walked to the top of Telegraph Hill. I was hoping to see Mark feeding the parrots but instead heard the parrots and saw four of them circling above. I spent some time at Pier 39, but then walked back to Waldon Square around 5:30 p.m. I didn’t see them but heard them nearby.
I followed the parrots chatter and there they were in Ferry Park at Washington and Davis. I spotted them in deciduous trees, pine trees, cherry blossom trees and on light posts. They swept down across the lawn to within a foot of the ground. Slowly, I approached the ones I saw in the cherry blossom trees, not wishing to scare them away. I was so close, I could almost touch them.
I was able to observe the parrots fly from tree to tree and fly across Davis to an adjacent park, some landing on light posts. Some were squabbling, some grooming, some eating. I could discern the difference between the Mitred Conures and the Cherry-headed Conures. The most striking difference was the extent of red coloring on the heads of the San Francisco parrots whereas the Mitred Conures of Redondo Beach had a few specks of red on their heads with a wide red stripe between their eyes. Also, the Cerry-headed Conures are a few inches shorter than the Mitred Conures.
The next day, I took the train back to Southern California, missing the Mitred Conures that I had heard and seen each day, but I knew when it was time to leave them, I would be living within a couple of hours drive of San Francisco-my home town--and could visit the San Francisco parrots that weren’t going anywhere.
To learn more about Mark Bittner and the parrots, see the movie "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill." Visit Pelican Media to view theater dates.
Photos of San Francisco parrots: Diana Clarke
Home
Last modified: 03/26/05
 |
