Did you know there is a name for r a group of parrots? It is called a pandemonium. There are other names too, like a flock or a company. But I like pandemonium. It is perfectly descriptive. And if you live in some beach communities of San Diego, you know why. Every day at first light the pandemonium takes wing. A joie de vivre celebration of sunrise that is delightful or raucous depending on your disposition.
As far back as the 1930s they have been a part of the sights and sound of Ocean Beach and Point Loma. Numbering anywhere from 100 to 350, they are Mexican Red-headed Amazon parrots from the Gulf Coast of our southern neighbor, and if you are curious about how they got here, you are not alone. “The parrots were probably brought here by people. They did not fly here,” says Dr. Jeffrey Jenkins of the Avian and Exotic Animal Hospital on Morena Boulevard. One theory holds that they were pets kept aboard tuna fishing boats and were released once the vessels returned home to San Diego. It is possible the great-great-great-great grand parrots of the current pandemonium resided on the grounds of Point Loma’s Theosophical Center 90 years ago. Another story surrounds an event that may have happened in the 1960s where a woman in Ocean Beach was supposedly caring for several birds, and they were released when a fire broke out. Or maybe the fire was at a pet store. It is all very unclear.
Dr. Jenkins has spent years studying and photographing the parrots of Ocean Beach. “They nest in the date palms,” where food is immediately available, “though they also love the fruit of carob trees and eucalyptus berries.” Mostly indifferent to people, they do not attack or carry human disease and seem to have adapted splendidly to San Diego’s less than tropical climate.
It is not uncommon for injured parrots to be taken to Dr. Jenkins. One, named Ernie, is a spectacular specimen with beautiful green and red feathers, who took so long in recovery it was determined he could no longer survive in the wild. So, Ernie simply ended up living at the hospital and, to all appearances, loves life there. Another feathered friend nearby is named Jerrick, who came from a separate flock that circulates around El Cajon and East County.
But it is in Ocean Beach where the parrots seem to have settled for the duration. Now, when 10 or 20 of them approach, it is a sound that can be heard for blocks, and when they sail overhead to settle on a nearby tree, it is an event. Truly, a pandemonium.
