This Town is for the Birds!

My ordinary average Wednesday began in a bit of a pickle: the onramps to the Bay Bridge were rearranged, thereby creating a traffic backup for blocks and blocks. My express bus opened it's doors a full block before the acutal bus stop because the driver couldn't get any closer after we'd sat in gridlock for a full ten minutes. Already late for work, I jumped off the bus, and maneuvered my way between cars to the other side of the street, until WHAM!!! I get knocked, ass over teakettle across the back of a taxi by an unsuspecting bike messenger, who was also maneuvering his way between cars - albeit at a much faster pace than me. I didn't even know what was happening until I heard myself utter a totally foreign high-pitched scream. The boy on the bike apologized profusely, but since I was the one jay-walking, I couldn't really get upset. Shaken, I still needed to get to work, so as the song goes...I picked myself up, dusted myself off and started all over again.

That's pretty much the day in a nutshell: ordinary moments punctuated by complete surprise. But today the moments of surprise (other than getting clobbered in traffic by a bike messenger,) all had a theme: weird wild birds that live in my city.

This morning's SFGate held a story about George and Gracie, a pair of peregrine falcons known for nesting in the highrises of San Francisco. It seems that George and Gracie have laid some eggs, but these delicate orbs are unfortunately nested in an I-beam of the Bay Bridge. PG&E has "adopted" the birds, and as such are paying to move the special eggs to a safer place for the hatchlings to enter the world. The story was another fun punctuation point to an otherwise ho-hum day. I knew about the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill - I've seen their petite green tails blazing through the skies of the Embarcadero a time or two, although I've never seen them up-close - but the George and Gracie were a new treat. Wow. We have famous raptors too? Cool.

Later in the afternoon, my coworker Kim convinced me to go get a little caffeine pick-me-up with her. As we walked back from the new Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf via Embarcadero Plaza Park I had to stop.

Me: "Hey - look at that!" I was in awe. Not twenty feet away were the famous parrots, gathered on the head and shoulders of a man with birdseed.

Kim: "Yeah - it happens every day at five or so - they're a little early today. They're always here though, either under that tree, or under this one over here..."

It may have been normal for her, but to me it was a treat. I had seen the charming documentary of course, but I'd yet to encounter the parrots up close and personal. I was delighted to find that with my new job came new walkways and new things to meet...

I left work later than usual, and as I moseyed along Davis street, just by Jackson Square, a screeching clucking mob of bright green shot through the sunlight between the canyon of shadowy buildings. It was them - and like a child after the piper, I followed them.

Happy Hour for ConuresThe wild parrots are properly known as Cherry-Headed Conure, or Red-Masked Parakeets, and were made famous by Mark Bittner's book, although they've been known locally for generations. While they are native to South America, it is believed that the parrots arrived in San Francisco as stowaways on a freighter ship, and found the Meditterranean climate to their liking. Their splashy green colors and loud voices are well-known around the Financial District, and North Beach areas - but like I said, we'd never been formally introduced.

I arrived back at the Embarcadero Plaza Park and found the better-part of the flock gathered in a tree sprouting new spring-green leaves that served as a perfect camouflage. I like birds, but I don't like them enough to have them...um, sitting on me? I don't know - it could be that I went to Venice once and got totally weirded-out by the pigeons and never went back. I like birds on their perches, but not rushing by my ears or flying in the general direction of my head. Dogs are fun and cuddly, but birds need to stay where the are...looking cute on the branch. Other folks that had gathered for the evening feeding clearly felt differently; birds were in hand, on head, and shoulder - biting, fussing, and begging for more seed.

Saucy ParrotAs I got closer to the tree, a sense of star-struck admiration came over me - these critters ARE movie stars after all, and they really seem to know it. Conures are cute, saucy, funny, and quarrelsome. They make eyes, bicker, flirt, get onery, and cuddle. They are also complete hams for someone with a camera.

Parrots like blossoms!As the sun began to set, it shown off of the tall buildings, casting everything into the flat light of dusk. I knew I had to go, but my heart was still pounding. You never know when some ordinary thing is going to come along and knock you off your feet. You go about doing your thing, and then out of nowhere...Magic! 

You can see the rest of the pictures on my Kodak Gallery page...