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March 29, 2006
Random tidbit this afternoon....
On Monday I spent about nine hours painting a gazebo in our backyard, which took me about 5-6 hours longer than I thought it would. That's no fun, but it was a tedious project. What made it all okay though was that at about 5:45 as I was finishing, I was standing on a ladder as the sun was setting and it looked like it was about to rain, when all of a sudden I heard this loud...very loud noise. I looked up and it was two birds flying towards a tree near me. Eventually they landed and the noise they produced was unreal. What were they? Two huge parrots. Finally, I was personal witness to all the stories and myths surrounding the parrots, and the town I live in, Pasadena, CA. It is rumored that Pasadena, and especially the surrounding communities of Altadena and Arcadia are full of thousands of parrots. I had yet to see them, though I have heard them, and some of my friends have seen them when they were walking down the street and looked up, and saw a red parrot in a tree.
It was really a beautiful way to end that day painting, when I saw two beautiful parrots sitting in the tree in my neighbor's backyard. I love living in Pasadena. It is a great community. Beautiful city. Beautiful architecture. Very diverse population. The Rose Bowl Parade ends near our street. Fuller Theological Seminary, Cal-Tech communities. Old Town. The weather. Etc. And now, finally, I have seen the rumored parrots in person.
Here is some more info. on the parrots of Pasadena:
Parrots
Pasadena has a population of wild parrots. The city's website identifies them as yellowhead amazon parrots, but according to the Parrot Project of Los Angeles, the parrots fall into as many as five different groups. There is a cycle of regular public outcry about the noise and the sheer oddity of the birds' presence, but most Pasadena's seem to have come to accept the birds as part of the city's life. They can be seen year-round, but are especially noticeable in the winter. The birds are definitely gregarious, and the amount of disturbance their chatter creates is definitely related to the time of day they may choose to chatter.
Theories and myths abound on how these parrots came to claim Pasadena and surrounding towns as their home. A heavily accepted story by long-time residents of the area is that they were part of the stock at Simpson's Nursery on East Colorado Blvd. in the Lamanda Park area. The nursery was burned down in 1969 and the parrots were thereby released to forage in the lush Pasadena area. It is also possible that some parrots moved northward from their normal in range in central and North Mexico as human habitation in the Pasadena area created artifical habitat in which the parrots could survive. Among their favorite foods are the berry kernels of the cedar trees which grow in great abundance around Pasadena.
Source
For more info, check out The California Parrot Project
Posted by rhett at March 29, 2006 10:46 AM
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Comments
Cool. When I was a little kid living in Culver City and off of Melrose too, we would frequently see large parrots flying by and way up in the tall trees. The common theory was they were pets that got out or released by owners who could no longer keep them. So there have been parrots flying over the LA area for at least 30 years, I'm sure there is a pretty good population by now. In the nice weather of LA they can definitely live ok, although I'm sure the smog shortens there life some. Parrots are much more sensitive to bad air then we are.
FYI if you heat a teflon pan too high, the fumes it gives off will kill a parrot.
Which makes you wonder how healthy it is for humans to use non-stick pans? That's why we don't buy ALL non-stick. Not to mention we have a small parrot.
Last parrot lesson for the day: How can you tell a parrot from just a normal bird??
Answer: Parrot's have two toes pointing forward and two pointing backward.
Posted by: Aaron at March 29, 2006 01:47 PM
Oh, one more thing. If you are going to talk about your project you worked all day on or birds at your house, post some dang pictures! :)
Posted by: Aaron at March 29, 2006 01:50 PM
I agree with Aaron-- Don't write about a gazeebo without at least putting a picture of you with your shirt off painting it. Maybe you could find a few friends to take their shirts off and have their pants low and then play some football. Sort of Abercrombie with a married pastor twist.
Posted by: Lars Rood at March 29, 2006 10:01 PM
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