LA’s Unexpected Parrot Paradise: A conservation Story
Imagine this: twilight descends on a Temple City shopping center parking lot, an unlikely haven for birdwatchers. Yet, according to Brenda Ramirez, a research technician at Occidental College, this is prime parrot territory.”You usually hear them before you see them,” she says with a smile,painting a vivid picture of these vibrant creatures.
Ramirez, a self-proclaimed “Bird Nerd” as childhood (“Oh, yeah. From a very young age,” she admits. “My mom has always had pet birds, and so I’ve always loved them.”), dedicates her time to studying two specific parrot species: the red-crowned and lilac-crowned parrots.These birds, native to Mexico, are facing dwindling populations in their homeland.
Her research is part of Occidental College’s Moore Laboratory of Zoology’s Free Flying Los angeles Parrot Project (FLAPP). “We were interested in studying the species because it’s so successfully established here but it’s endangered in its native range,” ramirez explains. The project’s director and curator, John McCormack, adds, “Yeah, you gotta have a good acronym,” highlighting the playful spirit behind the serious scientific endeavor.The lab boasts the world’s largest collection of Mexican bird specimens, providing a unique resource for this research.
McCormack explains the challenges facing these parrots in Mexico: “Because of poaching, because of habitat loss.” He emphasizes the potential significance of the LA parrot population: “And what we learn about them here in Los Angeles could help their conservation, because ther’s this idea that if they ever do go extinct in the wild, the ones here might be able to be a replacement population.” However, a crucial detail emerges: the LA parrots, unlike their counterparts in Mexico, are hybridizing, creating a unique conservation challenge. “And so you would want to be sure that you’re replacing the stock with something that’s like the original species and not a hybrid from Los Angeles,” mccormack clarifies.
Tracking these elusive birds is no easy feat, but the FLAPP team has a powerful ally: citizen scientists. Diego Blanco, an outreach and research assistant who grew up hearing the parrots’ calls (“I’d hear them every morning,” he laughs, ”It was kind of the sound of getting ready to go to school, you know? Having my cereal in the morning. Well, there go the parrots.”), actively uses iNaturalist, an online platform where community members contribute valuable data to the project.
This collaborative approach, combining scientific expertise with the passion of citizen scientists, offers a unique model for conservation efforts. The success of the LA parrot population, while presenting its own set of challenges, provides a glimmer of hope for the future of these endangered species. The research continues,driven by the dedication of scientists and the keen observations of everyday bird enthusiasts.
Key Points:
- Researchers at Occidental College’s Moore Laboratory of Zoology are studying wild parrot populations in Southern California.
- The Free Flying Los Angeles parrot Project (FLAPP) focuses on red-crowned and lilac-crowned parrots, endangered in their native Mexico.
- The LA parrot population could serve as a potential replacement population if Mexican populations go extinct.
- The study relies heavily on data from community scientists using the iNaturalist platform.
Citizen Scientists Help Track endangered Urban Parrots
A unique collaboration between scientists and everyday citizens is shedding light on the lives of endangered parrots thriving in unexpected urban environments across California. The project, leveraging the power of citizen science and the iNaturalist platform, is yielding surprising results.
The initiative relies on a simple yet effective strategy: “There’s a steady trickle that comes in and over time that builds up into something that we can really use for data analysis,” explains researcher Blanco. This steady stream of observations has already produced remarkable results.
With over 9,000 individual observations already logged, the project’s success is undeniable. “We can see what the birds are eating,” says McCormack, a key researcher, “We can see who they’re hanging out with, other parrot species, and we can learn an incredible amount from these thousands of photos that have poured into our FLAPP project on iNaturalist.” The sheer volume of data is providing unprecedented insights into these resilient birds.
The researchers’ ambitions extend beyond simple observation. McCormack hopes to sequence the entire genomes of these urban parrots to understand how they’ve adapted to city life over generations. This genetic analysis could reveal crucial data about their resilience and survival strategies.
Ramirez, another researcher involved, shares a similar goal. “Our ultimate hope is to really get information out to these communities about how these parrots got here, how they’re doing,” she says, “especially because they’re endangered.” Understanding their distribution and behavior is crucial for effective conservation efforts.
While parrots aren’t migratory in the traditional sense, ramirez notes they move within a specific radius, congregating in areas like the San Gabriel Valley, the San Fernando Valley, and even pockets in San Diego and other states. Their presence is often quite noticeable.
“You know, they love to just yell,” Ramirez laughs. “They’re a huge part of the communities that they’re a part of, whereas others don’t super love being woken up at 6 a.m. by squawking,but I think they’re warming up to them.” This vocal presence makes them hard to miss.
if you encounter these parrots, Ramirez advises against feeding them or disturbing their nests. They’re thriving without human intervention. Instead, she encourages citizen scientists to follow the project’s lead: “snap a picture but keep your distance and you might help keep the species from landing in extinction.”
By simply observing and documenting these birds, everyday citizens are contributing to vital research that could safeguard the future of these remarkable urban parrots.
