Lovebirds

It’s fascinating to see colorful birds flying all over the sky. Isn’t it? Well....if it had always been your wish to pet a bird like a love bird.....you have certainly visited the right place. Now, the question that can come to your mind is that how to take care of your lovebirds? Your query will be answered very soon in this article.

Lovebird is a general name that is used for any nice species of the Agapornis genus. The name has a Greek origin and in Greek it means ‘αγάπη agape 'love' and όρνις ornis 'bird'. These birds are affectionate and social in nature. They belong to the family of parrots. The continent of Africa has eight species where as Madagascar has a Grey-headed lovebird.

The name Lovebird originally comes from the monogamous and strong pair bonding of these parrots. These parrots can spend long time periods by sitting next to one another. In some other languages, the name of the bird suggests its monogamous nature. For example, in French, the lovebird is commonly known as "les inséparables" whereas in German, it is called "die Unzertrennlichen". In both languages, it means ‘the inseparables’.
  
As far as the size of the lovebirds are concerned, the size of one bird varies distinctly from the other. The general size can range somewhere in between 13- 17cm in length. Their weight varies in between 40-60gm.

Throughout the world, the lovebirds are considered to be the smallest birds in the family of the parrots. They have a stocky body structure and are specifically characterized by a blunt and short tail. However, their beak is quite sharp and large.

The lovebirds that are little wild in nature have a green colored body. However, the upper part of their body can have different range of colors based upon the type of the species.

The Black-cheeked Lovebirds, Masked Lovebirds and Fischer's Lovebirds usually have a distinct white ring in the area surrounding their eyes. The ‘Madagascar Lovebird’, Red-faced Lovebird, and Abyssinian Lovebird are sexually ‘dimorphic’ in nature. Multi colored mutant varieties are produced by careful breeding of those species that are well-known in aviculture.

The kind of voice apparatus that the lovebirds have, helps them in producing different sounds and voices. They are even capable of imitating human voice. Though they are not considered to be excellent talkers, yet their voice texture is quite amazing. There are even some lovebirds that are never capable of talking at all throughout their lives. 

The lovebirds have a lifespan ranging in between 10-15 years. As mentioned earlier, they have nice species, among which only eight of them are suitable as pets.

As far as breeding the lovebirds is concerned, the best way to do so is by keeping them in the colony system. This type of breeding is mostly practiced for the African love birds. Another breeding system is popularly known as the ‘cabinet system’.  

By now you must be aware of the different characteristics of a lovebird. So if you are planning to keep lovebirds as your pet, go ahead and do so. All you need to do is take care of its health and food habits. After all nothing can be better than keeping colorful and affectionate birds like lovebirds as your pet. Isn’t it?