WHITTIER - Over the past few years, David Kornblum has noticed the increasingly tropical tone of the local bird chorus outside his Uptown Whittier residence.

The sounds come from an apparently growing population of Red-crowned parrots that have made his neighborhood around Palm Park their home, he said.

With a plentiful supply of tall maple and pine trees available, the birds have a perfect canopy in which to roost.

Kornblum said at least 40 parrots now settle in for the evenings in a two-block area near Palm Park. During the day the parrots fly off in search of food - the typical parrot schedule.

"They've been around for a while but they've increased recently," said Kornblum, 46. "It's quite something to see a whole flock of these tropical birds flying by."

He said he has noticed the birds in his neighborhood for about five years.

"Here are these big green and red parrots, the kind you see in a pet store, and there they are just sitting in the trees near my home," Kornblum said.

Although parrots are known for being noisy - especially in large flocks - Kornblum said it didn't bother him.

"The tropical tones compliment the bird song," he added.

Kimball L. Garrett, ornithology collections manager for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, said he has had many calls from residents and local bird watchers about the growing parrot population.

But while Garret suspects the anecdotal reports may be correct, it is very difficult to prove definitively.

"It's a little tough to distinguish between a true population increase and birds moving from one area to another, and it depends on the species," said Garrett, who is also founder of the California Parrot Project.

Garrett said a "couple thousand" parrots have thrived in the San Gabriel Valley and it's possible some of those have spread south, or birds from a large Orange County population could be spreading north.

But since the San Gabriel group has successfully nested for years, Garrett said it's probable that the perceived increase in the Whittier parrots is real.

"\ may have just been successful at population recruitment - reproduction in the wild," he said. "The birds you see are not all the result of escapes."

One possible explanation Garrett dismissed entirely - the idea that the parrots migrated north from their native habitat in northeastern Mexico.

"None of these parrots got here on their own," Garrett said. "They absolutely did not migrate here. Period. The truth is a sickening number of parrots were imported here in the pet bird trade during the 70s and 80s.

"It's largely curtailed now, but illegal importing is still a big problem," he added.

In Southern California, the parrots pick urban or suburban areas to settle because of the vast variety of exotic plants, shrubs and trees used widely in landscaping. Normally the arid climate here would be inhospitable to the parrots, Garrett said.

SGVTribune.com - Growing parrot population is being heard

Yep, those are the critters that Katrin and I saw when last we went to visit Dana and her wonderful little family. There were hundreds of them in a single flock and noisy like you wouldn't believe.

I actually couldn't get closer to take a picture without getting pooped on, lol.
One of these days Katrin and I are going to go on a "Safari" here in the San Diego area and go Parrot hunting with our cameras and try to get some decent shots.

That'd be awesome, Mike. I can't imagine being able to go outside and see a flock of Green Cheeked Amazons in the back yard!