The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill: A Love Story . . . with Wings

by Mark Bittner

Like a lot of young people in the 1970s, Mark Bittner took the path of the "dharma bum." When the counterculture faded, Mark held on, seeking shelter in the nooks and crannies of San Francisco's fabled bohemian neighborhood, North Beach. While living on the eastern slope of Telegraph Hill, he made a magical discovery: a flock of wild parrots. In this unforgettable story, Bittner recounts how he became fascinated by the birds and patiently developed friendships with them that would last more than six years. When a documentary filmmaker comes along to capture the phenomenon on film, the story takes a surprising turn, and Bittner's life truly takes flight.

"A fascinating love story with wings." --Boston Herald

"[A] charming memoir. For devoted birders everywhere." --Reader's Digest, Editor's Choice

"[An] inspirational saga of one man finding his life's meaning in the most serendipitous way." --San Jose Mercury News

"Instructive, surprising, sweet." --Gary Snyder, author of Turtle Island and Mountains and Rivers Without End

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Birds, Memoir, Nature, Biography, Biography Memoir

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 20, 2004

Reviews

[Julie Ehlers · Rating 5 out of 5]

The documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill was released in 2003 and proceeded to migrate on and off my Netflix queue for more than a decade before I finally watched it this spring. I have absolutely no idea why it took me so long—the film contains all my favorite things! By which I mean birds, the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, and lovable misfits. When I saw it back in April I immediately became a bit obsessed, and procuring and reading this book, written by the "bird man" himself, became job one on my to-do list.

I had high expectations for this book; I wasn't looking for just some cheesy movie tie-in. The fact is, Mark Bittner spent decades living close to the bone precisely because he wanted to be able to devote his life to creativity and contemplation. I hoped that would translate into a decent first literary outing for him, and fortunately it did. Like the movie, this is an absolutely charming story. After devoting some chapters to his early years on the streets of North Beach (fascinating stuff), Bittner effectively depicts the searching and despair that caused him to start paying attention to the wild parrots of San Francisco. Apparently up until then no experts had wanted to study the birds because they weren't native to the area (!), so eventually Bittner was able to carve out a niche as the go-to wild-parrot person in the city, which brought the film crew calling and changed his life completely. It's all in the book, which is structured bird by bird, with Bittner managing to chart his own life and growth via the stories of the individual wild parrots that most captured his imagination.

I'm a little sad that I waited so long to see this documentary and read this book. The fact is that it's now been about 20 years since Bittner could really be called the "bird man"—he's moved on, emotionally if not geographically, and the whole thing is now an episode of recent history. But I think the fact that I'm now around the same age as Bittner was when the movie was filmed made me understand and relate to him a bit more. Who knows if I would've been as touched by the whole thing if I'd experienced it when I was much younger?

A quick internet search reveals that Bittner is currently working on another memoir, one that delves more deeply into the many years he spent living on the streets (or nearly so) in North Beach. I find this prospect insanely exciting. This is the aspect of his life that I'm most curious about, and The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill makes it clear he's got the writing skills to do it justice. Hurry up and finish your new book, Mark Bittner! Just because it took me over a decade to read your last one is no reason to keep me waiting now.

[Barb H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am revisiting this book because I had entered it into Goodreads a couple of years ago and realized that I had never written a review. It was an unusual omission, because my thoughts have returned to this delightful book frequently. I had originally picked up the DVD from my library and was so captivated by this exceptional story, I decided to read the author's account in greater depth.

Bittner, who was unemployed and in dire financial straits, had the opportunity to live in quarters on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. This is a steep, sharply terraced site, with unusual living quarters scattered throughout and huge amounts of vegetation and trees. It was here that he discovered the presence of many parrots. The book (and the disc) trace his acquaintance with the birds, his attempts to gain their trust and his unceasing efforts to provide appropriate shelter for them.

As I progressed with my reading, I was totally involved with each parrot, whom he had personalized with names and different personality traits. Bittner's writing has conveyed many emotions for the reader, from joy for a recovered bird, to sadness for one dead or dying. He also acquainted me with many different types of parrots and provided information about sites across the US where these birds may be seen living in the wild.


I suggest that Wild Parrots... should be both viewed on video and read, as I had done.

[SheilaRaeO · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mark Bittner was a homeless vagabond, failed musician and a self styled dharma bum. After wandering the streets of San Francisco staying wherever he could find shelter, someone told him about an ad for a caretaker of sorts for an elderly woman in exchange for a studio apartment. It was here that he discovered the parrots and began feeding them. Not finding much information about their history or habits, he determined to learn as much as possible and in the process befriended many of them. I normally love these kinds of books, but the writing style here was a bit dry and I was left often times wanting more. I was also disappointed in the photos that were included at the beginning of each chapter. All black and white. For a book about very colorful parrots, the inclusion of black and white photos of the subjects seemed strange. You can not see the subtle color variations he tells about in these photos. It was frustrating. The chapter "Consciousness Explained" seemed a bit self indulgent. I will also say that I found it very hard to like this man. His plan for just sitting around and letting life happen to him as part of his spiritual journey (which even that- he just sort of fell into), was all just irritating. I found myself struggling to finish it.

[A.J. Llewellyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, unforgettable book. I met Mark and his wife after seeing their documentary of the same name and bought the book after they came to a speaker event at my local library. This is a stunning story of Mark's life, which went through colossal change, loss and ultimately incredible love. Through his depression living in a friend's granny flat in Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, he befriended a flock of wild parrots and began to catalogue details of them. His observations are fascinating. Many seem to have once been captive birds that were released.
Bittner is now an authority on parrots. I came to care about each and every one in his story (Tupleo and Conner will always haunt me).
The birds in his care really taught the author how to (live) fly.

[Kressel Housman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange as it may seem, flocks of parrots are living wild in North American cities. There was a flock living on the Brooklyn College football field when I was a student there, and this book is the memoir of a man who spent years taking care of a flock in San Francisco. The progenitors of the flock are likely escaped or abandoned pets who found each other and bred. Apparently, they can acclimate to a colder climate as long as they have enough to eat. So between parks and trash, North American cities provide enough for them.

Author Mark Bittner came to San Francisco to become a professional musician, but his career never took off. Being sort of a hippie/Zen/drifter type, a regular office job didn’t appeal to him, and though he was homeless for a while, he ended up taking a job as a caretaker for a building near to where the flock was living. The birds soon became the center of his life. He researched them, fed them, and took them in when they were sick, but most all, he developed relationships with them. He gave them names, noting their personalities, and allowed each one to get as close as he or she chose. Most of the chapters in the books are named after his favorite parrots. Otherwise, the chapters represent some stage in his relationship with all of them, like his first fledge or the dangers from outside. The book starts off slow, but both Mark and the individual parrots grew on me. The ending, which is sort of a glossary of the parrots, was a perfect summation.

I suppose there are some people who might be turned off to Mark and his eccentricities. I am sure that my husband, for one, would object to Mark’s message of universalist spirituality at the end because it denies that the Torah has unique truth. But I say that Kabbalah teaches that there are sparks of G-d scattered throughout this world, some hidden and some less so. Surely Mark’s kindness to these birds is a spark of G-dliness. He came to San Francisco with one ambition, but by connecting with the nature all around him, his life took an unexpected yet satisfying course. He’s not rich, but he’s happy. Isn’t that the most any of us can ask for?

[Jalilah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reads like a novel. You can't put it down! Not only was it interesting to learn about the wild parrots, but also to read the counterculture (beatniks and hippies) of the North Beach area of San Fransisco and about how a person finds his calling in life.

[etherealfire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library Paperback

[Octavia Cade · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hill in the middle of a great city. A flock of smuggled and abandoned birds, certainly not indigenous to the San Francisco environment in which they find themselves living. And a man who has been homeless for many years, and who is constantly on the verge of being so again, scraping by doing odd jobs and living in a single mouldy room. He's not a scientist. He doesn't know anything about birds. He doesn't know much about anything, to be honest, and seems paralysed by a spirituality he can't really define or defend.

It's not a mix one would think would lead to something wonderful, and yet it has. Perhaps the lack of scientific training is a bonus. There didn't seem to be any local experts on the conures that Bittner could talk to anyway, so he's left to observe their behaviour with no preconceptions, and no foolish idea about birds not having personalities. (Of course they do.) And so, over a period of several years, he gets interested in the birds, starts to interact with them, and his learning about them coincides with him getting his life together, and coming to understand his place - and theirs - in the universe. It's a really interesting story, and Bittner makes the parrots come alive on the page. It's easy to empathise with them... which is, of course, as it should be.

[Tristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I really did! The documentary was wonderful and delightful and I was hoping for the same in the book, however it became clear to me that just as Mark Bittner seemed a little socially awkward in the film, his writing is even more so. Through reading his words, however, I did understand him better as a human being, through his borderline obsessive-compulsive approach to studying and interacting with the wild parrots of San Francisco. It's almost like he gave up on himself and focused all his energy into the wildness of this birds, instead of finding the wildness in himself. I actually loved the first chapters - his life BEFORE meeting the parrots. He shared what it was like to be his own version of a "Dharma Bum," wandering the streets of San Francisco in the 70's. I wish he had continued to share that personal story as he moved on with his story of the parrots. He tried to, but he got lost in a much more detailed, scientific, blow-by-blow description of how he fed and eventually cared for the parrots. I appreciate Mark Bittner as seeking spiritual human and his deep love of wild nature, but I couldn't connect to this book.

[Loretta Rinzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading this book. It took me longer to read than I thought it would. Maybe the print was smaller or I read slower to put myself into the book/story. Being an avid bird lover, I could really relate to the things he wrote about. Plus, I have visited San Francisco twice and love that area. To top it off, one of the birds he wrote about is a bird I owned at one time, a Blue Crowned Conure. The memories came flooding back of the squawking and calling and of course the painful bites.
I enjoyed reading this story as I could relate to a lot of the things he said. I don't know if a person, without the love of birds, would enjoy this? Hard to say. His detailed descriptions of the birds was amazing. And being able to identify by name many of the birds of the flock. I would love to experience a fraction of what he did!!! Very good book.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for the documentary and found the book, which has more information so worked out well. I enjoyed Bittner's account of learning about the birds and learning from them. It was probably also helpful to read about someone getting a late start in life and things turning out okay, though there was frustration in that too.

My biggest lesson from it is probably a reminder to not ignore those impressions you get, based on one night when he felt a sick bird's gratitude at being picked up and disappointment at being set down, and the bird was dead the next day. It is easy not to know the significance of something when it happens, but you don't always have to know the significance to respond in that moment.

[Mimi V · Rating 3 out of 5]

This summer, my husband and I were in San Francisco visiting his family and we went to Forest Books in Japantown, which has a great selection of used and rare books. I’ve been to SF a number of times now, and thought it was about time I read a book “about” San Francisco, so I picked up a copy of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City. My husband insisted that I should read The Parrots of Telegraph Hill by Mark Bittner, and since he was buying, I got it and read it.

Mark Bittner was hanging around San Francisco, waiting for a sign to tell him what to do with his life. He’d been squatting, he’d been homeless, he’d lived in a van, he’d been working odd jobs, and lived on the largess of generous people who gave him a place to live and gave him food. He’d studied Buddhism, the I Ching, the Bhagavad Gita, Confucius. He’d been a musician, aspiring to be a rock star. This sounded typically hippie-ish to me.

Bittner happened one day to see some parrots outside the window while working one of his odd jobs. He was intrigued – after all, how do tropical birds survive in San Francisco? It’s too cold. And there were four. Were they escaped pets? That seemed unlikely. Or had they bred in the wild? That seemed even more unlikely. After all his aimlessness, something had finally piqued his interest. He bought bird seed and fed the birds, soon finding out that there were actually 26 parrots in the flock. He was interested enough to go to the library and start reading up on parrots.

Two of the birds had blue heads; the rest had red heads. The library books revealed that they are cherry-crowned conures and blue-crowned conures. Bittner starts to be able to identify individuals – their color patterns are distinctive, and their size. He begins to identify pairs. He names them. Bittner’s captivated by their animation. They are loud, they fight, he also believes they have individual personalities.

He fed the birds daily and then several times a day. If he's not outside when they arrive, they screech until he goes out to feed them. They are lively and fun to watch. He enjoyed their antics and went to the library whenever their appearance or behavior or health warranted investigation.

He decided that he wanted one of the parrots to be his ‘friend.’ This is a vague wish; he didn’t want a pet exactly; he claims to want a special bond with one of the parrots. He entices the birds to come to him for food. They sit on his hands, arms, head, and shoulders. The birds that he brings into his house when they are sick aren’t interested in hanging around though. As soon as they’re able, they go back to the flock, although some of them retained enough of a connection to Bittner that they will fly right to him when they come to feed.

Soon people in the neighborhood know that he is the parrot guy. His downstairs neighbor complains because of the feathers and bird shit that fall onto his balcony and into his open windows (who can blame him,) as well as the noise that the flock causes several times daily. When people find an injured bird they go to him with the bird or bring him to the bird. The fledglings are susceptible to a type of virus that’s hard to identify and he nurses them back to health, after sometimes bringing them to vets who are willing to look at the birds for free.

One sick bird he brought in he named Dogen and had her wings clipped to prevent her hurting herself while flying indoors. Because she couldn’t fly, she waddled around the floor and pulled herself up with her feet and beak. Bittner allowed her to climb up into his lap and eat rice from his own dinner bowl. He tried to train her to step onto his finger by saying “up” when he offered his hand. Between allowing the bird to eat from his dish and then trying to train it, I was annoyed with Bittner’s behavior. This is not how you treat a wild creature. He was trying to make Dogen his pet. So this next passage was really distressing: “Dogen was enthusiastic about my food, and since it brought us closer, I allowed her to eat from my plate whenever she wanted. One evening after we’d finished dinner…I slowly lowered my face toward her until my nose was just grazing the silky feathers on the back of her neck…Soon I was delicately tracing the contours of all the muscles and joints in her body. I paid such careful and close attention that she allowed me to do whatever I wanted. But birds are sensitive about their backs, and out of consideration to Dogen, I refrained from doing what I wanted most: to pet her with the flat of my palm.

“I needed a girlfriend,” he concluded. Oh, my. This was more disturbing than parrots grooming his hair and beard or when he allowed one of the parrots to search around inside his mouth for food. Bittner’s lack of boundaries gave me the creeps.

Another of his annoying practices is trying to interfere in the social behavior of the flock. He tried to punish or temper the actions of perceived bullies; he even tried to interfere in the pair-bondings. At times birds would leave one partner and pair with another. If he didn’t approve of this, he would attempt to break up the new pair. He soon realized that this was ridiculous, but that didn’t make it less frustrating to read about.

Amidst all this parrot fuss, Bittner was in a precarious position personally. He continued to work odd jobs, but didn’t make much money. He was living rent free, taking care of the place for a woman who’s hospitalized. But she was going into a care facility and her place was to be sold – he would have to move and wasn’t able to pay rent.

As his concern about the flock’s welfare increased and he became more well-known as the “parrot guy” he wrote an article for a local paper about the flock that brought more interest, and some donations. A documentary filmmaker contacted him and after a time they started to make a movie about the parrots and his interaction with them.

There’s an interesting turn at the end of the book that I won’t reveal here. I was amused at a conversation Bittner had with the filmmaker who told him that when she met him and went to his house that it smelled. He replied that there was mold and he was squatting and there was nothing he could do about it. No, she said, it smelled like bird shit. “Aha!” I thought. That’s exactly what I suspected! Apparently he was so accustomed to the smell he didn’t notice it.

This story about the parrots on Telegraph Hill is fairly well-known to San Francisco residents. Everybody I mentioned it to knew about it to some extent. I didn’t want to know any details before reading the book, so imagine my surprise when I finished it and found out that the book was actually published in the 1990s, not the 1970s. Considering his lifestyle (and the fact that Bittner was able to live on next to nothing in what is now a very, very expensive city), I concluded that it took place years ago. One of the other reasons that I had trouble with the chronology was that near the middle of the book, Bittner mentions that he started keeping a journal, and he never does mention precisely over how many years his observations of the flock took place, so his reporting isn’t very clear.

The penultimate chapter is titled “Consciousness Explained,” which is a pretty ambitious title for an eleven page chapter. Great philosophers and scientists have been trying to explain consciousness for ages; believe me, Bittner wasn’t able to accomplish it here. He mashes up Buddhism, philosophy, Christianity, cross-species ESP, Darwin…It’s obvious that he’s striving mightily to come to a grand conclusion that wasn’t really necessary.

This was a light read, and aside from being annoyed by his decidedly unscientific approach and the general gross conditions of the author’s life, I did enjoy his narration of the parrots’ antics. It's touching how much he cared for the parrots and how much time and effort he expended to feed them and keep them healthy. I hope the next time I’m in San Francisco to go to Telegraph Hill and maybe catch sight of the wild parrots.

[Marcus Fennema · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not someone who really enjoys reading. I never really feel engaged in the story and I always have trouble understanding the people or characters in them. However, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill is the first book that I found myself truly enjoying. It's mainly because I've owned parrots and because I developed such a fascination with them in how they seem so different from other animals. This book echoed my feelings in the author's observation and interaction with the parrots. I found one line in particular that reflected this sentiment perfectly: "They don't seem like birds. They're more like little people," (Bittner 77). There was also an aspect of my life that kept me emotionally invested. A bit before I began reading this book, one of my own birds had fallen ill. The deaths of the first few birds that Bittner took in and cared for were moments I emotionally understood. They realized my own fear of losing my lovebird, who was so important to my life. When he did eventually passed away, I could truly feel the sadness that Bittner felt from the death of the parrots in the book. This book may not be for everyone, but it was for me.

[Samia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasure to read. The author is a unique person, and his writing was interesting, and entertaining, maybe especially so for me because (1) I like birds and (2) I live near the particular birds discussed in this book.

[Gena Ries · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book about parrots and finding your path in life. I wanted to hate it, but couldn't break away from it and really ended up enjoying it!

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was hard to keep the thread of the story straight at times with all the different parrots and the author's erratic life story. Some parts resonated and very clear and enjoyable though.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

brb gonna go watch the documentary immediately ♥️🥹🦜🦜🫶🏻

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for me to read while unable to visit my hometown, San Francisco. I enjoyed Bittner's journey...he seemed honest about his feelings about himself and the birds in his care. Here in L.A., I've seen flocks of parakeets, and I know it would delight me to get to the point where I actually began to recognize some of the individuals in the flock.

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit that when I was first given this book for my book club reading, I was dreading it. I mean, how interesting can a book be about a guy with no real job or goal in life and who is wrote a book about feeding birds be interesting. I mean, really...how can it be?
but, IT IS. I loved this book.

My husband thinks it's because when we went by a pet store one day, I fell in love with a parrot. What type, I don't even know. But, I loved this little guy. He had so much personality you could feel it and see it as soon as you met him. He was fiesty (all the employees at the pet store said they couldn't touch him) and fun (he would tenatively touch my hand with his foot and then scream at me and pull away and then do it all over again) and so much...personality. You could see it in his eyes. What a creature he was. I wish the $250 price tag hadn't scared me away (and the fact that I know NOTHING about taking care of birds).

This book is so good at explaining their personalities and little quirks. You can tell he loves the birds ~ not because he wants to change them ~ but because he accepts them for who and how they are.

I also watched the documentary that went with this book. I think they are wonderful at complimenting each other. The book explains in words and thoughts. The movie shows you just how interesting the flock is, how they all work together. It shows Connor ~ who IS just a very pretty boy. It shows Mingus ~ how he's fiesty and how he attacks toes. It shows almost all of them.

I'm so glad I read this book.

[Beth Jusino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Continuing with my literary fascination with San Francisco, another book that didn't quite live up to expectations.

First, the pros: there is a growing flock of wild parrots that live in the trees and parks of San Francisco, and particularly in a quirky, steep hillside neighborhood full of staircases and vegetation. The author spends years building relationships and trust with them, and offers the reader glimpses into the personalities and peculiarities of the group. It's a zoology and sociology lesson in narrative form.

But then the cons, which are mostly summed up by a question the documentary filmmaker asks repeatedly: "So why do you refuse to get a real job?" The human narrator, the author Mark Bittner, is not nearly as interesting as his subjects. An aging hippie who does not feel the need to support himself, the able-bodied Bittner spends decades subsisting on the goodwill of other. He lives rent-free in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the country, reads Eastern philosophy, and justifies his lack of action. His personal digressions are long and painful, his hardships based entirely on his own choices. And all of this is even more true in relationship the the birds he's chosen to study -- true survivors with social needs and a determination for survival and growth, despite the obstacles.

If you're in San Francisco, go to Telegraph Hill and look for the wild parrots. But you can skip the book.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard about the documentary about the wild parrots on NPR and when they mentioned the book I wanted to read it. My reasons were two fold: experience with another flock of parrots (in South Pasadena) and because I live so near San Francisco. A generous BookCrosser RABCKed me a copy last year and I've just finished reading the book to RABCK the book on to another BookCrosser.

While the book had some interesting chapters, over all it was a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping for another memoir of a layman's learning of a subject as in Cats Are Not Peas but Bittner's book is more about his own inertia than about his process to learn about the parrots.

My favorite chapter is "The Science of It" where Bittner gives a brief rundown of the biology of the parrots, what they are, where they are from, and their history in the city. Unfortunately he never fully pursues any of these threads. I would have loved to read more about the history of the parrot flocks in San Francisco.

Instead, the book is padded with the names for the various birds, how they are fed, and so forth. After the second or so chapter introducing yet another parrot and his or her daily activities, I just started skimming hoping for a few more nuggets of interesting information.

[Cassandra RM · Rating 4 out of 5]

This changed how I see pigeons, so that’s a win I’d say!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bittner is what I would sincerely dub a holy fool. That's not an insult. His integrity and innocence and quirkiness make him special. He wouldn't seem strange in medieval society - a monk, a beggar, some how getting by. In our world though he's an oddity. But he's also cut out for his role - learning about and helping a flock of parrots in San Francisco. Also oddly his love for the birds makes for always interesting reading. I didn't think a whole book on a flock would carry me along. But it did. Would like to see the documentary about him and the birds. Sorry I didn't see them when I climbed Telegraph Hill.

[Victoria Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

No offense to the bird lovers out there, but if you'd told me a few weeks ago that I would have become fascinated in a memoir about parrots, I would have thought you crazy. That said, it was on my bookshelf and I figured I'd give it a shot. Turns out, it is one of the most charming books I've read this year. Focus less on Bittner, more on the birds and you're all set.

[Amanda Wagman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a junky for these parrots! I love that I saw them while I was in San Francisco, but I want to go see them again after this book! Was this the greatest writing ever? No. Is the author a weirdo? Absolutely. Did I skip the chapter on religion, philosophy and consciousness? Yup! ...But I'm off to watch the documentary!

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again a book about a person waiting for life to happen TO them instead taking charge. A bit frustrating, but Bittner's love for the parrots is evident and so sweet. I enjoyed learning about the birds and watching the documentary later on.

[Ellie Syverud · Rating 1 out of 5]

skimmed it - it actually was only about the parrots! one memorable story about the universe as captured in a waterfall - at the cliff, the water (life) splits into many individual droplets (people, animals, plants) and at the bottom they all become one stream (life) again.

[Felicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

very good if you can get over the author's bohemian (read "gross") lifestyle

[Lauri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really endearing. I didn't find it nearly as moving as the movie was, but it was still a great read.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read this book however the movie on which it is based is delightful. A 'feel good' event in the main.