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photo from 1000Birds.com |
In the spring and summer, it is not uncommon for OC’ers to
wake up to the call of wild parrots.
Okay. It’s more like a screeching.
In many cities of Orange County, from Garden Grove to Yorba
Linda, you are likely to find the non-native birds chasing each other through
the non-native eucalyptus trees. The
trees were brought and planted by ranchers hoping to make wind rows from the
fast-growing Australian trees. The parrots’ origin is a little less traceable.
Most of the parrots here are red crowned parrots, originally
from Mexico. Some speculate that since habitats in Mexico have been lost, the
migratory birds headed north. Most people prefer to tell the story of an
unnamed Orange County pet shop that caught fire one night in the 1980’s. The
story says that the owner, in a panic to save the birds, released them into the
streets, and off they flew to live and breed anew.
Others tell more disdainful stories, one blaming the
corporate and now defunct Lion Country Safari for releasing the birds when they
closed. Still others cite illegal bird smugglers dumping their inventory before
being cornered by the law. And we are pretty certain they are not animatronic refugees
from Disney’s Tiki room.
Whatever the source, the birds are here en-masse, at least
for the time being. Other species have been spotted, including the red lored
parrot, the lilac-crowned, the yellow headed, and a couple of species of
parakeets, the mitered and the rose-ringed.
In addition, there are rarer sightings of blue macaws, which are most
certainly the descendants of an individual-owned bird that got loose.
We ourselves rescued a small budgie parakeet from starvation
in the Orchard Hills Shopping center in Irvine.
We named him Chico, because that’s the store nearest him when we found
him. Winestyles was closer, but it
didn’t seem to be a very bird-like a name.
Sometimes loved, sometimes hated, the birds are doing well
here, which is good for the species. Many ornithologists consider the parrots to
be endangered in other parts of the world.
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