Born in 1951 in Vancouver, Washington, Mark graduated from high school
and spent four months in Europe hitchhiking and taking trains, then moved
to Seattle and spent three years learning music. He moved to Berkeley,
California, worked as a street singer and ended up in North Beach in San
Francisco, spending fifteen years on the streets studying Eastern religions,
history, Italian, guitar, and clarinet.
In 1988, he took a job as the caretaker of a house. Two years later he
spotted four parrots nearby. Eventually the flock grew to 26, and he was
in love. Making friends and learning their ways, in 1996 he began a book,
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (Harmony Books, 2004). Mark starred
in a documentary of the same title, released in 2005, written and directed
by filmmaker Judy Irving. Mark and Judy are now married and living in
the gardens of Telegraph Hill. Mark is currently working on a book about
his years on the street.
