Mystery bird: Rosy-faced lovebird, Agapornis roseicollis

This cute little North American mystery bird species may surprise you (includes video of a parent feeding its newly-fledged chick)

Juvenile rosy-faced lovebird, Agapornis roseicollis (protonym, Psittacus roseicollis), also known as the peach-faced lovebird, photographed at Papago Park, east Phoenix, Arizona (USA).

Image: Pete Moulton, 17 July 2010 (with permission) [velociraptorize].

Question: This cute little North American mystery bird species may surprise you -- why? Can you identify this species and tell me whether it's an adult or immature and which field mark you used to make this determination?

Response: This is a rosy-faced lovebird, Agapornis roseicollis. The remnants of the dark "mustache" on its upper mandible and its muted colouring inducate it is an immature bird. (For most individual lovebirds, this dark "mustache" disappears completely by six months of age and the bright adult plumage is attained between eight and ten months of age.) Lovebirds have been selectively bred in captivity to have a wide variety of plumage colours, often known as "mutations" or "morphs". Different plumage colours do not indicate different species for lovebirds.

The presence of an immature bird, flying free in Phoenix, Arizona, may be surprising since it suggests that this African species is busily establishing a self-sustaining feral population in the desert southwest of America. However, if a person knows anything about this species' natural history, this should not be surprising at all because rosy-faced lovebirds inhabit dry, open country throughout southwest Africa. The feral birds in Arizona (which escaped or were deliberately released from captivity) live in a variety of habitats around Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa, Arizona (which are located in dry, open country in southwest North America). They are highly social, and can form noisy, shrieking flocks that number into the hundreds.

Here's a video of a new fledgling rosy-faced lovebird being fed by one of its parents (captive birds):




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