Wild Parrots

Since I’m making an effort to find little things that make me happy and focus on them rather than all the crap that sucks, let’s talk about the flock of wild parrots in my neighborhood.

They are Red Crowned Amazons and there are many theories on how they came here. Some say it started with released or escaped pets. Some say they migrated from Mexico. Personally, I don’t care how they got here, I’m glad they’re here. They make me happy.

They are very noisy in the evenings when they fly around squawking, getting ready to head to wherever they’re roosting for the night. They move around the city, going where the food is.

The past week or so has brought them back to my neighborhood. So as the sun is starting to set and the breeze is blowing and the air is cooling off (however slightly) I hear the parrots and I yell to Ben “PARROTS!” and I go out in the backyard (sometimes he joins me, sometimes he ignores me) to watch them circle and land in trees or on the wires. Then they take off and circle and land again. Then they fly off to their roosting spots.

The flocks range in size from 10-15 birds to 25-30 birds. That’s a lot of noise when they’re all squawking at the same time! It only last for a few minutes, maybe 10 at the most, but for those 10 noisy minutes I’m happy.

I’m going to go watch for parrots now. It won’t solve my problems. It won’t make everything magically better. It WILL give me a few minutes of joy. I’m trying to string as many of those together as I can.