“Pasadena has 1,000s of these green & red non-native birds” – Celebrity Jeopardy, air date May 13, 2026; Double Jeopardy Round

Did you read this and immediately respond, “What are parrots?” Right! According to Aaron Rickell Jones of LA Field Guide, “Pasadena is home to a population of more than two thousand parrots—and growing. One of the more unique and bizarre wildlife phenomena in Southern California, they’ve been spotted as far north as Bakersfield and as far south as Orange County and San Diego, but the epicenter of their population is here in Pasadena. For fifty years, morning and evening, vast flocks of red-crowned parrots, red-masked parakeets, and yellow-headed amazons squelch, crawl, and screech their way into roost trees throughout the San Gabriel Valley.”

Photo by Walt Fogler-Mancini

David Sikes, “Autumn Pasadena Parrots,” 2014; oil on canvas; Gift of Gallerie Gabrie, San Marino Gallery, Segil Fine Art Sources, Silvana Gallery, & Tirage Fine Art Gallery, 2014. This painting was acquired by Pasadena Museum of History as the purchase prize winner in the 2014 exhibition “Contemporary Masters: Artistic Eden IV.” It is on view through December 17, 2026 in the exhibition “Pasadena Palette: Selections from Pasadena Museum of History’s Collection.”

While their “coming to Pasadena” story is equal parts educated guesses and urban legend, the birds have achieved pop culture status on television, in documentaries, and inspired the name/theme of Pasadena’s popular Wild Parrot Brewing Company. They are the city’s unofficial avian ambassadors and a dependable fact of life. As one woman posted on Facebook, “When I hear them fly over, I know it’s time to start dinner.”

The most likely beginning of our flocks dates to a major fire circa 1959/1960s at Simpson’s Garden Town Nursery and Bird Farm, once a well-known horticultural attraction at 3425 E. Colorado Boulevard (most recently location of the now-closed Amazon Fresh store). Simpson’s reportedly housed a wide variety of parrots and other birds alongside its gardening offerings. During the property-destroying blaze, many of the parrots were either intentionally released or escaped on their own. These birds are widely believed to have formed the nucleus of the wild parrot populations now established across Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley.

California’s affinity for parrots was already on the rise. After World War II, large numbers of these birds—particularly from Mexico and Central America—were brought here for sale or exhibition before stricter wildlife protection laws, such as the Endangered Species Act (1973), limited their capture and sale. Species like the red-crowned amazon are now endangered in their native habitats, making Pasadena’s flocks an unusual case where a threatened species thrives outside its original range.

Photo by Walt Fogler-Mancini

The parrots have adapted remarkably well. They are highly social, travel in large, noisy groups referred to as a “pandemonium,” and find sustenance in non-native fruits such as the guava, loquat, and fig that are common in our gardens. While we enjoy their antics, others study them with purpose. Local organizations, including californiaflocks.org and The California Parrot Project monitor these flocks, documenting their expansion across the San Gabriel Valley and beyond. Species identified in Southern California include Yellow Chevroned Parakeets, Mitred Conures, Blue Crowned Conures, Indian Ringneck Parrots, Nanday Conures, Yellow Head Amazons, Blue Fronted Amazons, Lilac Crowned Amazons, Green Cheeked Amazons, Red Masked Conures, Red Lored Amazons and White Fronted Amazons. Researchers point out that while these avian exotics raise complex ecological questions due to competition with some native birds, they also fill niches in an already human-altered environment.

Whether they migrated here on their own, escaped from black market smugglers, are the latest generation of survivors of the garden center fire – or a blended population from different times and circumstances – the Parrots are undeniably popular and another feather in Pasadena’s cap as a city rich with fascinating history, sights, and sounds.