“And if you want to delight in the existence of a wild parrot flock, then the wild parrots must be left to their own devices. Let’s keep them wild. Let’s keep them free.” – Mark Bittner, of The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
Some of the following photos show people feeding the famous parrots down on the Embarcadero. This is now illegal and helped passed by Supervisor Aaron Peskin a few years ago. It was made illegal with the help of Bittner and for good reason. Some of the parrots have already been kidnapped because of this. The parrots, just like any of the wild birds in San Francisco, do not need anyones help to get food. The parrots like olive trees which are all over the city
Here is a very important read by Bittner himself on the subject
At the meeting of the full Board of Supervisors the vote was 10-1 in favor of the ordinance to ban the feeding. The only vote against was by Supervisor Ed Jew, who, oddly, had voted in favor of the ordinance at the initial hearing of his own subcommittee. San Francisco law requires that the Board of Supervisors vote twice on these things. In between the two votes the feeders mounted an intense lobbying campaign with petitions, letters, emails, phone calls, and videos on YouTube – videos that revealed the location of the feedings, something that they had previously acknowledged would be a bad move. Despite their efforts, the second vote was identical, 10-1.
I personally have no problem taking photos of the parrots when they’re in the wild, up in the trees., like I did before on Russian Hill
I happened upon the scene today by complete accident and revealing the location might be a bad idea, but it also might be good, as it shows how and when and who the current feeders are as of November 18, 2009. It’s a very tricky situation because if there are people around who can stop it, and stop any possible kidnappings, then it’s good.
But in any case, I agree with Bittner, it should be stopped, so if anybody is down there and sees this, let them know. I didn’t know until I looked it up later. It’s not just pigeons, but ANY wild birds in San Francisco, DO NOT FEED in public parks. Only in certain designated areas is this allowed, per the Department of Public Health
when I came upon the scene, they were first up in the trees, munching on on olives
then, all of a sudden they flew across the street and it was like this
On second thought, this is not good. Feeding them is not helping them at all, and in fact, makes them vulnerable to kidnapping and to hawks, which have already been preying on pigeons for years as a direct result of feeding. Hawks also prey on parrots too
this entire episode lasted for maybe 5 minutes, then the feeders went away. I don’t know if they’re regulars or what
