These parrots came to Los Angeles as pets – then went wild. Now scientists are unlocking their mysteries

<p>Once escapees from the pet trade, Los Angeles’s feral parrots have become a vibrant part of city life, and could even aid conservation in their native homelands</p><p>A morning mist hung over the palm trees as birds chattered and cars roared by on the streets of Pasadena. It was a scene that evoked a tropical island rather than a bustling city in north-east <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/los-angeles">Los Angeles</a> county.</p><p>“It feels parrot-y,” says Diego Blanco, a research assistant at Occidental College’s <a href="https://moorelab.oxy.edu/">Moore Laboratory of Zoology</a>, nodding to the verdant flora that surrounds us: tall trees and ornamental bushes with berries.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/15/los-angeles-wild-parrots-conservation">Continue reading...</a>