I live on 29th Street in the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. Twenty ninth street runs from Mission to Diamond without being interrupted by hills, which makes it a fairly well traveled thoroughfare. The street starts in the flat, then climbs up. My house is in the last block of the street, at the starting point of the steepest section, so the engines really rev as the cars drive by. While the noise on my street is not in the same league as 29th Street in NYC where my friend Dorene lives with her family, it's not the quietest place either.
Yet, in the spring and summer, early in the morning when the cars are few and far between, I wake up to a varied chirping of birds. The birds are probably part of a flock of wild parrots originally imported as house pets. You can read about the San Francisco parrots in Mark Bittner's The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. There is also a documentary of the same name. For specific information on the Noe Valley parrots, click here.
It's a beautiful cacophany. I don't usually see them en mass, though I often spy different varieties in my backyard. But in those early hours with the sun newly risen, listening to their songs, I lay in my bed and smile, reminded of another reason why I love living here.
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