Chris, I didn't mean to imply that if your birds didn't screech, they
weren't parakeets! There is a great diversity within this family, with all
kinds of calls, and "squawk" describes some of them just as well as
"screech." There are reports of a fair number of species "wild" in the
Seattle area over the years.

Maybe someone else in the region will see/hear these birds one of these
days. Where exactly was your sighting?

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416