Lovebirds

The Fischer's lovebird is one of the three most common species of pet lovebirds. This is an unusual blue mutation.

THE NINE SPECIES OF LOVEBIRDS ARE QUITE DISTINCT, even though some of them look similar. Some are very common in captivity, and some aren't suitable for captivity at all. A few species are very easy to come by, but most are very rare and not readily available for purchase. People who want to breed these rare lovebirds often enter into a consortium to bring them from overseas, which takes considerable time and effort. This chapter takes a close look at each of the lovebird species, both in the wild and as pets.

Common Species

The following three species of lovebirds are those most commonly found in captivity. They are the three you are likely to find in pet stores and are the most popular pet lovebirds.

The beautiful peach-faced lovebird is a popular pet. Peachies are also friendly and entertaining clowns.

Peach-Faced Lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis)

The most common lovebird in captivity today, the peach-faced lovebird represents the ideal lovebird to many beginners. Most peach-faced lovebirds are between six and seven inches long, and the relatively heavy build is reflected in a weight that may exceed two ounces, even in wild birds. Thousands of these lovebirds are bred each year for pet shop sales, and the species comes in perhaps more color variations (mutations) than any parrot except the budgie.

These are beautiful birds by any standard. In both sexes (which are not readily distinguished in this monomorphic species), the body is bright green and the lower rump and feathers above the tail are bright blue. The primaries of the wings are green with black toward the tips, and the tail has only traces of the black band found in most other species, along with some red and blue. However, the upper parts of the outer tail feathers often are bright red above and below. The entire face is reddish, with a broad bright red band running from the middle of the crown to the base of the beak and the top of the eye. The cheeks, throat, and upper chest are paler pinkish red (peachy), fading into the green of the belly. There is a very narrow white eye ring, the beak is yellowish white (horn colored), and the eyes are dark brown-nearly black-in adults. Peach-faced lovebirds are not in the eye-ring category, but their slight eye ring often categorizes them as intermediate. Juveniles have just a touch of pinkish red over the front of the face and the throat as well as black smudges on the beak, which disappear as the birds mature. They reach full coloration after the first molt-at about six to eight months.

This species prefers dry grasslands, shrubby savannas, and open woods. The birds can be found in a narrow strip of southwestern Africa extending from Angola through Namibia into Cape Province, South Africa. This species comes in an astounding number of natural color mutations (see chapter 9) that breeders capitalize on by using selective breeding, that is, by putting different colors together to create babies of specific colors.

As a companion, the peach-faced lovebird is a wonderful choice, friendly and feisty, cuddly and clownish. Hand-fed peachies are as loyal as dogs as long as you handle them frequently. However, be aware that when left alone too often or when in breeding condition, females can revert to unfriendly behavior and become a hazard to handle. Males are generally docile and will maintain their friendliness if hand-fed and handled while young. This species is highly unlikely to talk, with only a few individuals ever learning to say a word or two.

This yellow black-masked juvenile shows the distinct white ring that gives eye-ring lovebirds their name.

The White Eye-Ring Lovebirds

FOUR OF THE SPECIES OF LOVEBIRDS ARE CLASSIFIED AS eye-ring lovebirds because of the characteristic fleshy white ring around the eye, called the periophthalmic ring. These birds are the masked, the black-cheeked, the Fischer's, and the Nyasa. They are all smaller than the peach-faced at about four and one-half to five inches. They nest in colonies and have slightly overlapping natural ranges. They will hybridize (when two disparate species mate and have offspring) in the wild if introduced into new territories and can produce fertile offspring.

Fischer's Lovebird (Agapornis fischeri)

The range of this eye-ring species includes areas just to the south of Lake Victoria, mostly in Tanzania, and perhaps including Burundi and Rwanda (where the bird may have been introduced), west of the range of the black-masked lovebird. There they were declining in numbers-possibly because of trapping for the pet market (local and international)-until recently, as a result of human intervention. These lovebirds have been introduced into cities in Tanzania and Kenya, and there they may interbreed with black-masked lovebirds, who also are introduced to that range.

This young blue Fischer's lovebird will make a wonderful companion and is a good choice for a first pet bird.

The Fischer's is another truly beautiful little parrot, a little smaller than the peach-faced. The nominate birds have a green body with a yellowish green belly and a yellow to pinkish yellow breast that extends as a faint, broken band (a not-very-distinct yellow collar) onto the nape of the neck. The rump feathers are tinged with blue. The face is bright orange-red from the area above the beak to the throat and back to the eye and cheek (brighter above the beak), grading into brownish orange on the back of the head and the nape. Some birds appear to have the entire head pinkish red, especially when selectively bred in captivity. The beak is bright red in the normal and yellow birds, horn colored in the blue and white mutations.

The Fischer's lovebird is common in pet shops and occurs in a few stunning mutations, including lutino (yellow), blue (white, light blue, and black), and albino (white). Some mutations are difficult to distinguish from the mutations of the black-masked, so it's important to know what kind of bird you have before you begin breeding. Fischer's lovebirds breed readily and are good lovebirds for beginners (just behind the peach-faced). They are just as feisty as the peach-faced, perhaps even a little more so, especially the females. This species needs a lot of hands-on attention to remain tame.

It's easy to see how this black-masked lovebird got the name!

Black-Masked or Yellow-Collared Lovebird (Agapornis personata)

One of the most commonly bred eye-ring lovebirds, the black-masked lovebird-also known as the masked or the yellow-collared-comes from grasslands of Tanzania and southern Kenya and is abundant there; large populations now exist in cities of Kenya and Tanzania, outside the natural range. The nominate bird is dark green on the body and on the wings, yellow on the chest, and green on the belly and rump. The head, from the upper nape to the base of the red beak and down through the cheeks and throat, is blackish brown to black. The black face is sharply separated from the green back by a bright yellow band running around the nape to the breast, the yellow collar of the preferred European common name. In the very similar-looking black-cheeked lovebird, only the face and cheeks are black, and the back of the head and the nape are brownish; there is no distinct yellow collar, but there is a pale pinkish bib below the lower beak, and the black areas of the face are more brown than black. Black-masked lovebirds are bred in many color mutations, most popularly the blue, in which the green is replaced by blue and the yellow by bluish white.

As pets, hand-fed black-masked lovebirds are amiable and friendly, but parent-raised birds are skittish and shy. However raised, lovebirds who are handled frequently will remain the most tame. The black-masked are about as easy to breed as the Fischer's.

Rare Species

Because the remaining six species of lovebirds are rare in captivity, they are discussed only briefly below.

Madagascar or Grey-Headed Lovebird (Agapornis canus)

The only species of lovebird found on the island of Madagascar, the Madagascar lovebird is rare in captivity today. There is little breeding stock left from the days of open importation, so the species is rarely seen, even with hobbyists. This attractive little bird often is found in open woodlands, in dry grasslands, in fields, and near villages over all the island, except the central highlands.

This sexually dimorphic species is plain in color, lacking bright colors on the rump, tail, and wings, and has a small grayish-colored beak. Females are entirely green. In males, the head, nape, and upper breast is gray (bluish gray in birds from the very dry southern part of the island, sometimes recognized as the subspecies ablectanea). The rest of the body is dark green on the back and wings, lime green on the rump, and yellowish green on the belly. The female Abyssinian, or black-winged lovebird, is also uniformly green on the head but has a waxy red beak. The Madagascar has a thin blackish line across the tail feathers. The eyes of both juveniles and matures are dark brown at all ages. Juveniles look like duller versions of their sex, and they typically have black smudges at the base of the beak. This species is small, about five to six inches long. Wild adults weigh one ounce.

Black-Collared or Swinderen's Lovebird (Agapornis swindernianus)

This species has always been considered uncommon and has never become established in the fancy. It has a spotty distribution along the Atlantic coast countries of Liberia, Ivory...