Up close and personal with the monk parakeets of Israel

One of the challenging things about attempting to video the activities of wild parrots is getting close enough to really capture their personalities. A gentleman named Mark, who’s affiliated with avibirds.com, brought to my attention a video he recorded a few years back in Israel that captures, in wonderful close-up, many endearing qualities of the monk parakeet, which include sociability, dexterity, charismatic cuteness (the bird is, after all, scientifically placed in the “charismatic megafauna” column), along with some of its astoundingly strident vocalizations.

Avibirds.com is a wonderful site, by the way, run by enthusiasts whose goal is to make birdwatching more accessible. Check it out. A lively YouTube channel with cool bird content can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/@avibirds1551