Published December 13, 2023
7 min read
Temple City, California, is an unassuming city east of Pasadena that’s home to the usual busy thoroughfares, shopping malls, and residential neighborhoods that one expects in densely developed Los Angeles County. And in addition to people and their pets, Temple City hosts a surprising avian population.
At dusk, hundreds of wild parrots, some in large flocks, some singly or in pairs, approach from all directions, squawking loudly and circling overhead before settling on a variety of roosts. The brightly colored birds create a spectacle as they land in trees, on power lines, and on cell towers, but what makes them so distinctive is the racket they make.
In the dying light of a recent November evening, I watched as a particularly large flock of green parrots settled into a nearby tree, and thus camouflaged disappeared among the branches. Out of sight, the overwhelming cacophony of the birds seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. The commotion made it easy to understand why a gathering of parrots is called a pandemonium. The squawking sounded chaotic and random, then suddenly the birds went silent, as if a switch had been flipped.
“Look,” said Luke Tiller, my parrot guide and the chapter president of the Pasadena Audubon Association as he pointed at a distinct speck in the sky. “A falcon.”
Tiller explained that flock behavior offers protection to the parrots. Individual parrots alert the flock to danger through vocalizations, and many birds means many watchful eyes. Additionally, the sheer size of the flock deters predators like falcons and hawks from targeting the parrots. As soon as the falcon flew off, the parrots resumed their raucous cries.
Witnessing the parrots returning to their evening roost was a startling and capitivating experience, seemingly at odds with the dense urban environment. It also begged the question: How did these parrots, and others like them across Los Angeles, come to live so far from their native habitats in an environment that is completely different?
Vibrant wings in the City of Angels
Like most good Hollywood stories, the origin of Los Angeles’s thriving wild parrot population is debated and shrouded in myth. Some trace it back to the closure of Busch Gardens Van Nuys in the 1970s, which could have resulted in the release of captive birds into the city environment. There are also unconfirmed stories of mass parrot releases during the 1992 riots, as well as tales of parrots being freed during a fire at a pet store in Pasadena in the 1990s.
“My guess is there’s probably a kernel of truth in most of those stories,” says Jamie Gilardi, the executive director of World Parrot Trust. “I don’t think anyone ever did it intentionally. Parrots are valuable, so they’re probably accidental releases.”
The parrots certainly didn’t make it to Los Angeles on their own.