The Wild Parrots Are San Francisco’s Official Mascot
San Francisco, the City of Saint Francis (the patron saint of animals) NOW has an official animal! Up until this point, we did not! The Chronicle held a contest to rectify this injustice, and out of sixteen contestants, the final two were the wild parrots and the sea lions.
It might be fun to visit the sea lions when you take your out-of-town friends to visit Fisherman’s Wharf, but San Francisco’s true mascots are a flock of cherry-headed conures.
I first heard about the parrots when I was about eleven or twelve. My father owned a custom cabinet business and one day he came home with a story about his latest client, a lady on Telegraph Hill. He said his client was frustrated by a flock of wild parrots that would fly to a tree in her yard and eat all the blossoms. Apparently they were very messy and loud.
I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited in my life.
You see I grew up with every pet you’ve seen at a pet store. Chinchillas, rabbits, guinea pigs, cockatiels- from the time I was nine until high school started, my parent’s home in the Outer Mission was San Francisco’s version of a farm.
You can’t do that in Russian Hill!
And now I had an adventure on my hands. I started to do a bunch of research and quickly found out that a book had been written about the birds (The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill: A Love Story With Wings) and a documentary had been made about the book.
This is a story of patience.
It is also a story of never giving up on your dreams- no matter how crazy or far-fetched.
Would you believe me if I told you that three pairs of the parrots flew to my neighbor’s backyard just two weeks after I finished reading Mark’s book? My entire family was sitting at the breakfast table and sat with their mouths open when they heard the familiar squawking. I’m sure they proceeded to roll their eyes, but I had already shot out of my seat and ran out to the back porch by that point.
But that wasn’t enough. I wanted to pet one.
I found Mark’s number in the phone book and Judy (who produced the documentary) actually talked to my dad. One weekend I dragged my family out to Telegraph Hill and we tried to find Mark’s house! The mailman wasn’t very helpful (or amused).
I was a very weird kid, I know.
This was one of the happiest days of my life
One day I was with my dad and brothers running errands in the Embarcadero. All of a sudden, we heard the incredible squawking. Come on guys! I yelled as we began to chase the familiar sounds. It turns out we were around the corner from Sue Bierman Park, where the flock roosts every night.
And I got the chance to feed three of the emerald beauties by hand!
That day was one of the happiest days of my entire life. You can’t even do that anymore; they are very much wild birds. Not to mention the City made it illegal to feed them.
The flock has gotten so large they don’t really travel together during the day anymore, but I know every morning groups fly out to Alamo Square Park, Fort Mason, Lafayette Park, and Dolores Park.
No matter how much San Francisco changes, the flock is committed to staying put.
Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting to find one of their nests?
Did you know that the parrots lay their eggs in the palm trees? So they’re actually natives! The sea lions leave every summer to go have their pups in Southern and Central California.
So San Francisco isn’t a good enough place for your babies to be born? How rude!
Several months ago (actually just a few days after Christmas 2022) I got my lovely Parrots tattooed on my arm by Tito Gavino at Golden Era Tattoo. Now they’ll be with me wherever I go!
One day I’ll run into Mark or Judy at Caffe Trieste. I’ve been putting that out there for years, and my manifesting abilities are pretty top notch. I just hope I’m not leading a tour when I start fan-girling.
The Wild Parrots are now our official mascot and I can’t wait to have them on my library card too!