Unscheduled, but welcome, guests

Hummingbirds and parrots-I think they are very exotic. Probably because I didn’t grow up with either. We have hummingbirds all the time in our yard. We don’t have a feeder, they love all our flowering plants.

There is a company of wild parrots that routinely flies over our house. We have heard they are pets that got loose. Apparently they fly around the county, raiding fruit trees.

One morning recently, about 7AM, I heard a terrible racket. We have heard this sound before, I knew it was the parrots. I guessed they were in our backyard, and it sounded like more than the usual 3 to 8 birds. I grabbed my camera and slipped outside. Over 20 parrots were overhead in our sycamore-grooming, fussing and screeching. I took as many pictures as I could before they took off in a wave of squawks, leaving one beautiful green feather behind.

If anyone knows what kind of parrots these are (they all look the same), or any more information about the companies of parrots in San Diego, I would love to know.

If you enjoy parrots, or a good story, I highly recommend The Parrots of Telegraph Hill. It is a wonderful documentary film about a homeless man who took over the care of a wild company of parrots in San Francisco, and how they changed his life.