Christmas Parrots in Hollywood CA! 4 Green parrots came to my house!
My husband came and got me to ask me what were the 4 big green birds were that were chattering in our Magnolia tree. The only greenish brids we have ever had here are 2 varities of hummingbird and some lesser goldfinches - all of whom are really tiny. You could have knocked me over with a proverbial feather when I saw they were some type of Green Conures! We snapped some digital photos which are blurry but I'm going to upload them to my photobucket account and post a link.
What a wonderful holiday surprise! All four of them looked as if they were molting and we snapped a photo of a pair taking turns grooming eachother's heads. None of them looked to have cherry heads or blue heads though. They spent about 30 minutes talking amongst themselves and playfully climbing all over the tree when suddenly they let out some terrifying shrieks and flew off in formation. As they wheeled around to the North, we saw our not-so friendly neighborhood red-shouldered hawk gliding around just about a block away to the South of us. Smart little green guys!
That hawk has made meals out of a few mockingbirds, lots of mice and even a small kitten. She used to like to eviscerate her kills on my roof and I have plenty of gore-filled digital snaps to prove it. Thankfully, the abandoned house she used to call home has been torn down and is in the process of being turned into condos. I have no idea where she hangs her tired talons these days but she's still very much a presence in the area. For the parrots' sakes, I hope it's far from my house.
I have never seen a wild green parrot south of Franklin before! I live only half a block north of Santa Monica Blvd and quite some distance from Beachwood Canyon where the parrots can usually be seen. The fact that there were four them gives me hope that they will be back and maybe in even greater numbers. There's good eats in my neighborhood this time of year. Lots of pyracantha berries, and other fruit producing trees.
I am tempted to put out some sunflower seeds on a high platform feeder to attract the parrots but I explained to my neighbors who gathered to view the visting tribe that we shouldn't put out too much seed nor attempt to hand feed them. We don't want to make them dependent on us or get too familiar with them. There are a ton of cats in this neighborhood and of course, that hawk. If the 4 of them want to come back and nibble, that's great but I wouldn't want to inadvertently endanger their lives.
They looked kinda scruffy with tufts of molting feathers on their bellies - not like well kept pets at all. We can hear them chattering right now but they are a few houses away in a jacaronda tree talking up a storm. I gave one of my astounded neighbors my copy of mark's book to read and advised everyone they could put the movie on their netflix queue! I wonder if there'll be a run on the DVD at our local video store tonite!
I do so hope they come back! I promise to upload the photos later today. Their visit brought much joy to the neighbors and my family! Everyone out walking their dogs are pointing at them up in the other tree. It's like Elvis stopped by!