PASADENA PARROT 3 by artist Ulla Anobile

Like true urban heroes, the wild parrots of the city of Pasadena, CA, have achieved legendary status. And like in the case of true legends, there are a number of stories explaining how these colorful flocks ended up living in Pasadena neighborhoods.
The most popular, and least verifiable, is the story of a nursery that kept parrots catching fire (either in the 50s or 60s), and the parrots either escaping, or being released, when fire threatened.

Other stories surmise the parrots might be escaped black-market birds; or refugees from Mexico where their natural environments became threatened. It is said that more Red-crowned Parrots now exist in Southern California than in Mexico.

There are anywhere from six to a dozen species of parrots living wild in Pasadena, plus now also several subspecies, resulting from interspecies breeding.

There are many projects studying and keeping track of these birds. Among them: Free-Flying Los Angeles Parrot Project by The Moore Lab of Zoology at Occidental College in neighboring Eagle Rock.