They say we’re not from very far away.  

Some say we crossed the mountain.

Others, that we didn't cross anything.

Someone brought us.

Some of us escaped, others were released.

We don't remember anymore.

I've heard humans say we've been here for fifty years.

Many parrots or parakeets, as they're called here, have already passed through.

"Too many," they say.

How many Argentinian parrots must pass through before they call us Chilean parrots?

Some of us are here, others further north.

And others further south.

This is our adopted land.

They say we came from grasslands.

From warmer pampas and scrublands.

We don't remember anymore.

Will we ever become Chilean parrots?

Those of us who are here come from the east, they say.

And what is the east? 

They say it was near the great mountain, right where we were at the beginning.

We don't remember anymore.

Many parrots, or parakeets as they're called here, have passed through.

"There were twenty at the beginning," they say.

Near an English club.

Now we move about in this green we found.

This is our adopted land.

We don't migrate like other non-parrots.

We stay in the green year after year.

In the green that stood out the most.

In this tall green, several of us stayed.

Side by side.

We live together, we build and repair together.

They say we're the only ones who build.

"A communal, cumulative nest," they say.

Where did we learn to make these nests?

Did we learn?

In the green that stood out the most.

"I don't know what it is about that tree that makes them like to sit there," we heard once. They also say there are others that live in the high gray.

I heard them, although I didn't see them.

I heard them too.

Sometimes we leave our nests to other birds that aren't parrots.

In this tall green, several of us stayed.

I've heard them call it Quinta Normal Park.

"The first park," they say.

These tall branches aren't from here either.

I've heard they are called trees.

Where are these trees from?

Someone brought them.

They say humans brought them.

But how did they bring such tall branches?

Because there were only short branches here,

and they brought the tall branches from the north.

Not only from the north, but from other places too.

They say they brought more things, more branches, and other things, not parrots.

There are several of us who aren't from here.

They say they liked the shape of the branches from the north.

There are several of us.

They say they liked collecting branches from other worlds.

There are several of us who aren't local.

Some say the trees will dry up, and then there won't be any branches.

What is "then"?

They say parrots have always been like this.

Companion birds.

That they moved us across the map.

What is a map?

We don't understand boundaries.

They say they've kept us with them,

that there are human bones mixed with parrot bones,

parrot feathers mixed with human remains.

Not us, but other parrots.

"Too many have passed," they say.

Wherever humans go, we go.

They say we're like the others that aren't parrots.

I've heard they are called pigeons.

Where are the carrier pigeons?

They had them, they cared for them,

they loved them,

they entrusted them with their secrets.

Will we be the pigeons of the future?

A green future.

Isn't that what humans dream of?

I heard them.

Me too.

Some humans, when they see us in a group, call us pandemonium.

Pandemonium because of how we talk.

Even though they don't understand.

They say we're noisy.

"Very pretty, but very noisy," they say.

But we have many different noises that we do understand.

Each one has her own voice.

We have things that humans call accents.

Many accents.

Here, noises are louder than ours.

Sometimes it's hard to hear each other.

But when we make human sounds, they like it.

They take us to their nests and teach us their noises.

Some of us repeat them well,

Others don't.

We keep our accents.

Wherever humans go, we go.

When we eat their fruit, they don't like it.

But we don't just eat sweet fruit.

We eat whatever is available.

What's on the outskirts of town.

But when we make noises like they do, they like it.

They say we're charismatic.

What does charismatic mean?

They say we're intelligent.

Intelligent?

I heard a human call us exotic invaders.

What does "exotic" mean?

They call us exotic because we weren't born on these branches.

But we were.

What does "invasive" mean?

They call us invasive because we spread throughout this green space and others.

We displace other non-parrots.

Here and in other places.

They count us.

They measure us.

They hunt us.

Is hunting allowed in the city?

They call us birds out of place.

Where are we supposed to be?

A plague.

A pest.

But also companion birds.

That's why they brought us here.

Companion for whom?

“Colonizing species,” I’ve heard.

They persecute us here and elsewhere.

Lethal control.

I’ve heard it.

Me too.

“Nest destruction,” they call it.

But they don’t know that we always rebuild them.

We build and repair together.

In the most vibrant green.

Like them.

With them.

Companion birds.

Migratory birds.

Displaced birds.

Displaced parrots.

Someone brought us here.

Either way, we understand humans.

I've heard there are too many of us.

That fewer and fewer voices are heard that aren't parrots.

They say we attack.

But they've also seen us sharing.

I saw them.

Me too.

We coexist with the other non-parrots.

Sometimes we leave our nests for others.

Colonizing species.

They call us by our names with fear: parrot fever.

They say we can make other non-parrots sick.

And humans too.

I've heard that humans get sick.

I've heard that the trees get sick,

that they fall because of us.

They say we move other non-parrots.

That we push them.

That we fight.

That we steal their food.

That they don't keep each other company like we do.

But we don't invade.

We live,

we repair,

we keep each other company.

We simply exist.

Are we exotic invaders everywhere?

We simply exist.

How can we be a plague even at our origin?

We live,

we repair,

we accompany each other.

We simply exist.

Humans moved us to control a plague,

and caused plagues elsewhere.

Are they still moving us?

Let humans bring us back.

But can they bring us back?

Someone brought us here.