We have a new development in the movements of San Francisco's beloved but noisy wild parrots — at least one group of them anyway. They have been gathering regularly in recent months in the small redwood grove next to the iconic Transamerica Pyramid.

It's been a while since we've had any significant update on the wild parrots, who have now become so much a part of SF's identity and lore that they appear on our new "I Voted" stickers, and they were chosen last year in a Chronicle poll to be the city's "official animal."

The parrots gained nationwide, if not worldwide attention two decades ago after the release of Judy Irving’s 2003 documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill — which, incidentally, was recently restored and re-released to theaters earlier this year. The documentary focused on Irving's longtime partner, musician Mark Bittner, who remains a Telegraph Hill dweller and lover of the birds.

A strange disease had been afflicting the parrots in 2018 and 2019, leading some to speculate that they were being systematically poisoned.

But the birds continue to thrive and their numbers don't seem to have dwindled.

We were under the impression that the parrots had split into multiple flocks over the years, some of them living as far south as Brisbane, and others split between different city parks. But a new Chronicle piece, in which Bittner and others speak about the state of the birds, seems to suggest it's mainly all one flock of around 220 birds.

The birds, which are technically cherry-headed conures, have recently been spotted in Transamerica Redwood Park, spending at least some of their daylight hours there. The birds had long been regulars in the poplars in Sue Bierman Park, by the Embarcadero, but as the Chronicle explains, some of those trees fell during storms last year, and now the birds appear to have sought out a different refuge.

The birds have also been seen perching in the window bays of the Transamerica Pyramid itself, and on the roofs of 450 and 475 Sansome Street.

Given that the redwoods don't lose their needles in the winter, some bird watchers speculate that the flock has simply found better cover from predators, like hawks and falcons.

The birds have always moved around the city throughout the day, and Bittner expressed regret several years ago that Irving's film and his companion book of the same name had given people the mistaken impression that the birds live only on Telegraph Hill.

Some of the birds, either this flock or another one, frequents Alamo Square Park and Lafayette Park, and the birds are also sometimes spotted in Bernal Heights and at Crissy Field.

Bittner has long been an advocate for the birds — and leaving the birds alone. And as he tells the Chronicle this week, "The thing I always want to add is for people not to worry about them. They’re thriving. They’re not in any kind of trouble."

Previously: SF's Wild Parrot Flocks Still Going Strong, But Non-Profit That Cares For Injured Birds Needs Help