On October 19, you can meet ornithologist, evolutionary biologist and museum curator John McCormack<\/a>, who runs the lab today, and hear about the birds of L.A., including our astounding flocks of wild parrots. McCormack\u2019s talk is part of the \u201cLectures on Tap\u201d series, which brings authorities on everything from Champagne to natural disasters to director Christopher Nolan out of the classroom and into a bar to share their expertise.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like a pub trivia night,\u201d says McCormack. \u201cBut it\u2019s a public lecture on an intellectual topic. I did it onstage at El Cid and loved talking about parrots where all these famous comedians and dancers had performed.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n L.A.\u2019s wild parrot population exploded in the 1950s, according to the state Department of Fish and Game at the time. In 1971, nearly a million birds, mostly parrots and canaries, were legally imported but smugglers sometimes released flocks to avoid getting caught with illegal birds. The Wild Bird Conservation Act of 1992 cracked down on imports of exotic species, including parrots, cockatoos and macaws.<\/p>\n McCormack and his students utilize the vast collection of 65,000 birds collected in the 20th century for comparisons to modern animals. \u201cWe can get DNA \u00a0out of the old specimens,\u201d McCormack says. \u201cIt\u2019s degraded but we can compare a parrot of 100 years ago to the same species today and reconstruct evolutionary history, divergence and species formation.\u201d Historical information on where the original bird was found helps track down their nesting locations and aid in taxonomy.<\/p>\n The enormous flocks of red-crowned Amazon parrots that today call the San Gabriel home were once limited to a small area around Temple City but have expanded their habitat greatly. \u201cThere\u2019s evidence that people have tried to shoot them with bb guns and people have tried trapping them with nets,\u201d McCormack says. \u201cEither for target practice of their find them annoying.\u201d Twenty years ago, a Trader Joe\u2019s clerk in Temple City told the Los Angeles Times his backyard was \u201clike the Amazon.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Amazona_viridigenalis_Saltillo_Coahuila_Mexico_1-1200x800.jpg\")
An Amazona viridigenalis at home in MexicoCredit: Photo by rebal\/Wikipedia<\/p>\n
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John McCormack of the