Parrots, non-native, atop blooming ceanothus, California native.

It is no longer legal to feed these recent emigres to San Francisco.  Thus i cannot tell where these pictures were taken, even if I knew, or even if I could guess who took them.  A very special digital delivery brought them to my attention and thus I can present them to you.

These are a few of the over 200 birds made famous by Parrots of Telegraph Hill book and documentary.  Sometime in the past twenty years the original population got free into the city, and have prospered as so many generations of immigrants before them.  Do not tell Homeland Security.

In other places they’re known simply as Aratinga erythrogenys.  Red-masked Parakeet or parrot.  Believed to be natives of Ecuador.  I can say no more.