Photo: Diane Edwardson, January 18, 2013. I finally managed to capture a photo of one of the many wild parrots I regularly hear flying through the neighborhood. I literally just pointed in the direction of the really loud squawking and got lucky. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
Two or three parrots were squawking up a storm Friday chasing each other through the trees atop Corralitas Drive. Each time they'd land in one, I strained to see them, only catching a flash of green as they sped off to another tree. They stopped for quite some time screaming at each other in one of our palm trees. Then I got lucky with the one photo above. I was surprised at the length of their tails when they flew off.
I've seen stories and photos through the years on The Eastsider and most recently, in the Eagle Rock Patch about the non-native wild parrots. For years I've seen and heard them flying & squawking over the neighborhood. They sometimes loudly flock in our rubber trees, eating the fruit, making a mess, but I never manage to get a photo.
According to the California Parrot Project, this might be either a Yellow-chevroned Parakeet or a White-winged Parakeet. Unfortunately, this was the only shot I got.
The California Parrot Project was set up by Kimball Garrett of the LA County Natural History Museum to track the distribution of parrots in California. They invite the public to participate by reporting parrot sightings on their website.
