The wild parrots of telegraph hill

There was an art movie theater in my neighborhood when I lived in LA, I saw many nice independent films there at that time. One day, I passed by the theater and saw a poster in vivid green and flamboyant red- it is "The wild parrots of telegraph hill". I was immediately attracted by the colorful poster. I went home and checked what this movie was about. On its official website, it says "a documentary of a Bohemian St. Francis and his remarkable relationship with a flock of wild green-and-red parrots. Mark Bittner, a homeless street musician in San Francisco, falls in with the flock as he searches for meaning in his life, unaware that the wild parrots will bring him everything he needs". Hmmm, that looked very interesting. I knew that Telegraph Hill is a place in San Francisco, but i had no sense about its location and its nature environment nor wildlife. Unfortunately, during the month when the movie was showing there in the theater, I didn't have a chance to watch it. As time went by, of course I forgot about it and the movie only left a very vague impression on my mind- the beautiful poster.

Last weekend, I had a chance to visit the Oakland Museum of California. Surprisingly, the movie happened to be shown there that day. So I watched the movie after 2 years when I first encountered it. It was a wonderful movie, the story of Mark Bittner and the birds was well-told. Fun fact: no one really knows where the wild parrots came from. This movie changed my childish ideas about that parrots always talk. :P. At the end of the show, Mark Bittner and the director Judy Irving (they married!) even showed up for the Q & A session.

Now that I've lived in the bay area for a year. I know what the urban area in San Francisco is about. I can't believe there is a flock of wild parrots flying in the sky in the city. I mean, I can imagine a big flock of parrots in a rain forest. But in the city, they are so distinguishable with their colors, how can they survive from the evil human and the polluted environment? And I've been to the telegraph hill area several times, how come I've never spotted a parrot? The story in the movie actually happened around 1998, who knows if the parrots are still there.

I decided to give the green birds a visit if there is still any. Yesterday after work, I drove to a park in which rumor has it as with the highest likelihood the parrots may show up. From a distance I did see a few people gathering around two bushes, however i saw no parrots but a big crowd of pigeons as you can see in any metropolitan park. As I walked closer to the bushes, I heard louder and louder chirping that's not from the pigeons. Chicka-squawk-chicka-squawk! And then amazingly, there they are: green parrots with red heads!
At least 50 of them! Most of them were just resting in the bushes enjoying themselves. Their green color nicely blended into the green bush leaves so I couldn't spot them from a distance. As people brought food (mostly nuts) for them, the parrots flew out of the bushes and enjoyed the food in people's hand. An old gentleman gave me some sunflower seed, I put them in my palms. After a few minutes, the parrots noticed me and flew down boldly eating the seeds from my hands. One of them even landed on my head (To be honest, I was really worried that it's gonna poo on my head! :P) Their feet were a little sharp, but it doesn't hurt at all when they landed on your hand (or head).
When the seeds in my hands were all gone, the birds discarded me and flew away. The whole experience was a just lot of fun. The parrots were inured to people feeding and watching them. I got to see them really close and watch their adorable behaviors. Almost all them were red-headed, only one was with green head. They played, cackled and chatted to each other, they also watched me like I was a funny thing when I was watching them.

As the sun set, I left the park with appreciation. I was totally amazed by the urban wildlife and I felt peaceful that there seem to be a harmony between these lovely birds and human beings. No one was chasing, hurting or trying to catch the bird. The birds looked healthy and seemed to enjoy the company of human beings. I heard that the neighborhood and the city come together every few years to save the wild parrots from some new threat. Hopefully this action can last forever, and then we can keep another legend in San Francisco: The wild parrots of Telegraph Hill.