Squawk! Spring is Here

The green parrots are back!

I'm not sure when I first noticed the green parrots that go shrieking through the sky in the greater Los Angeles area. Maybe a few years ago, when Domestic Partner and I still lived in Echo Park, near downtown L.A. They've been hard not to notice as they seem more numerous each year, in our suburban neighborhood.

Sometimes they fly by our street in small flocks, squawking all the while, and giving me a glimpse of the scarlet streaks in their outspread wings. At other times, I see them chattering in large groups in our neighborhood's trees when I take the pugs for a walk. Now and then, they rest on the antiquated telephone lines or swing from them, playfully hanging upside down.

Where did they come from? Aren't they tropical birds? Don't they belong in Africa, or at least Central America? One of our neighbors mentioned something about a local aviary that had burned down about thirty years ago. She thought that a few parrots had survived and had been flourishing since then.

We don't hear the squawks when the weather gets cold. Okay, cool. Well, cold enough for the parrots to fly south for the winter, I presume. I was happy to hear the first familiar squawk of the season last month. In a corner of the country that is seemingly without seasons, the return of the green parrots has come to symbolize the arrival of another new springtime for me.

The noisy, green parrots seem rather anageological (if I may use a made-up word) in everyday suburbia. And that just helps to make L.A.-la-land a more mystical place to live!