A little detail you might miss when drawing or painting a monk parakeet a/k/a quaker, is the peculiar little jag in some of their outer blue primary feathers. 

This jag causes the wings to make a distinctly different sound from other small birds which usually do not have this primary feather feature. It is a loud shuffling or rustling sound. Most online guidebooks and descriptions of this parrot don’t even mention it, perhaps because it isn’t much of a factor in identification from a distance.  

Another bird with specialized feathers designed to make a distinct noise is the Mourning Dove, whose wings whistle when it abruptly takes flight, which can be quite startling. In its case I believe the sound comes from the way the foremost primary feather on each wing is shaped and how this changes how it acts as an airfoil relative to the average bird primary.

Another feature quakers have that sets them apart from most parrots, is a cute little dimple in the feathering on their forehead, right above and between their nares (or nostrils) which are atypically hidden beneath feathers rather than exposed and bare. 

Quakers in the wild are fast-flying parrots native to Argentina’s savannahs 
and grasslands, but they have also established very successful colonies in many other nations, including ours, because they are tough, obsessively curious, highly intelligent and adaptable birds, and can easily survive as escapees from the pet trade. 

The same intelligence that makes them popular in the pet trade - coupled with their social nature - is also what can make it tougher for them to endure in captivity - even if their owners mean well and try to be attentive. It is very difficult for busy humans to provide quakers with enough personal interaction, problems and puzzles to solve, and materials with which to build, to keep their active minds and bodies satisfied, and boredom can set in very easily. The stress caused by boredom, breeding frustration, and loneliness is not to be dismissed - it often leads to self destructive behavior not only in humans but birds as well.  

Monk parakeets are also one of the very few species of parrots that build their own nests rather than relying on finding cavities in trees, and that is a useful skill in the grasslands where there are only scattered trees, or in urban environments full of structures provided by humans.
That urge to build manifests itself when they are pets, too, so they play with everything they can get their beaks or feet on, and they will fly away with objects they like or try to weave them into a nest of sorts if they can. Quakers are very strong birds for their size and they can pick up and manipulate large, fairly heavy objects, which can be amusing. They are also strong willed and prefer fight over flight, standing their ground in defense of their nests, and once they have decided to do something, there is no easy way to change their mind or to deter them. Like most birds they also like to push or drop everything they can snag onto the floor; so be careful about making the game more amusing by picking things up for them, or they will enslave you into doing it all the time.

The purpose of the whistling or rustling wing feathers? Is it to produce a sound recognizable over great distances so these gregarious birds can find one another? Is it to startle or confuse predators when the quakers take off? Does it enhance their speed or maneuverability in flight? Is it a holdover from the past or a preview of some adaptation yet to come? It likely serves more than one function. Also, why do most birds other than quakers and birds of prey have simple primaries rather than a jag in their primary feathers?

An important part of being an artist, particularly a nature or animal artist, is insatiable curiosity and well-developed observational skills, skills that enable you to notice things like this and help spark a similar curiosity in others. Why? So they can more deeply appreciate, enjoy, share and protect what God has loaned to humanity, becoming the good and faithful stewards we were meant to be, rather than focusing too much on serving ourselves.

That’s not to say that artists should be overzealous, know-it-all activists about the things we have come to love in our vocations, or that we should become enraged hindrances to others’ way of life, hating humanity for our faults, but rather, we should simply assume the attitude of life long students at the feet of God, whose perspective is much longer than any human perspective can ever be. The Creator did not bring people into the world for the purpose of being perpetually anxious and outraged, or to have the spirit of fear; and he didn’t make everyone certified prophets of doom, either.  We need to temper our short term concerns, fearlessly taking comfort in His power to turn all things to good in the long term, in His time. 

- Susan A. Walton, 
S. A.Walton Studio, Hudson, Florida

For more information about feathers :

https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/