Wildlife profile: Red-Masked Parakeet

Are they wild, or just feral? I don't know, but two things are for sure: we never know when we'll see them, but we're always delighted when it happens.

Official description:

• Common name: Cherry-headed conure, or red-masked parakeet
• Latin name: Psittacara erythrogenys - "sit-ah-KA-ra eh-RITH-ro-jen-is
• Family: Psittacidae
• Length: about 33 cm (13 in) long, of which half is the tail.
• Description: All green, except for a red cap to the head and a bit of red on the upper wing edges.
• Geographical Distribution: southwestern Ecuador and northwestern Peru
• Nest: Nests are usually made in tree cavities.
• Eggs: three to four eggs - incubation is over within 23 or 24 days

The parrots can often be heard flying over the garden, and recently they have been visiting in small groups to feed on the 30' tall Agave americana flower at the front arch, as it is dripping with nectar. I wish I could get a better photo, but it's cool to see them! Check out the video below.

 

The red-masked parakeet is a medium-sized parrot from Ecuador and Peru. It is popular as a pet, and is the tenth most common Neotropical parrot imported into the US with over 26,000 parakeets checked in from 1981 to 1985.

That's led to it being reclassified by the IUCN from a species of least concern to a species that is near threatened in 1994. Importation to the US was restricted in 1993, but the local pet trade and habitat loss continue to put pressure on this species.

Considered the best talkers of all the conures, which admittedly aren't great talkers but ARE great squawkers, this is a noisy type of birds that is active and quite demanding of social interaction as a pet. It is ideal for house-bound and slightly deaf people, as a result. Or people who want to become that way.

At some point in San Francisco's history someone let loose a couple of conures - or they escaped - and the result is a flock of about 300 that now no longer resides only in Telegraph Hill, but can be seen all over the city, and as far away as Brisbane.

In 2003 a great documentary film called The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill was released, all about our parrot population, and a book of the same name was published too. Mark Bittner, who was feeding the parrots at the time, starred, and his now-wife Judy Irving directed. You should watch the documentary if you haven't already, and Mark's page is an interesting read too.

Anyway, we're always happy to see these rascally little birds in our neighborhood, and especially at the gardens!

Laboring away: the full weekend of backbreaking work

Chris surveying the carnage

Chris, Matt and I decided to work on a special project on Saturday: fixing up the Aloe nobilis hedge on the lower path.

We set about removing all the Aloes there, sadly reduced in number due to the forces of gravity pulling them into the drainage ditch.  We also removed all the weeds, including wayward Chasmanthe and Romneya coulteri (Matilija Poppy) that have seeded or crept in.

It took about 2 hours to do that, and also cut back all the succulents and other plants leaning into the drainage ditch. Lots of cuttings made. Lots of mess in the drainage ditch.

Rebar pounding...

As we worked we were treated to the sights and sounds of wildlife on the huge floral buffet, also known as the Agave americana flower, at the entry way. This 30' tall attraction is quite a sight. Bees! Hummingbirds! And even two Cherry Headed Conures - the famous wild parrots of Telegraph Hill - flew in and busied themselves with the nectar dripping off the flower. Pretty cool: If anyone gets a good photo of them send it to me, please!

On Sunday, Matt and I returned. We pulled wood chips away from the boards on the edge, and dug into the dirt to make space for new boards we will add on the lower side. We pounded in about 40 two foot long pieces of rebar to hold the old boards in place, adding a few new ones and straightening the whole line.

Dusty shoveling...

Let's just say that was exhausting... and took about 4 hours.

We also cleaned up the steps so as to be ready for new plantings, put 3 trash bags of trash on the street for 311 to remove, moved several Agave "Green Giant" and planned new plantings in areas where plants just look too darn tired to be worth keeping.

After that, we had to go to Flora Grubb to treat ourselves by buying plants.

DONE!

On Sunday we finished the job, installing about 50 board feet of pressure treated lumber to the lower edge of the path, pounding in about 40 three foot long lengths of rebar, replacing ALL the extremely dusty dirt and ALL the Aloes, then watering the whole thing in thanks to the use of Gary's hose  Another 4 hours, and we are just shattered.

I would say there is another 15' of length remaining, where a huge Agave made it too hard to complete, but we will finish that another time.