Lovebirds - the genus Agapornis

An overview of the articles about the Agapornis genus

A pair of Black-cheeked Lovebird (Agapornis nigrigenis)

Here, in article form, the individual Lovebird species with associated subspecies from the very popular African parrot genus, Agapornis, are described.

The articles are intended as support for aviculturists who actively and seriously work for the preservation of healthy, pure-species wild-coloured Lovebirds in human care. It must be underlined,

that www.birdkeeper.dk takes its starting point from the recognized scientific species descriptions and not from various descriptions of the species that different bird associations/special Lovebird Clubs, etc., have made for themselves, and
that www.birdkeeper.dk - apart from a few exceptions - is not a forum for describing mutation birds.

For now, you will be able to read the following:

Taxonomy (Species Overview)

About the applicable biological taxonomy for the genus Lovebirds (Agapornis), consisting of 9 nominate subspecies (species) and 5 subspecies.

Pallid Grey-headed Lovebird

About the Pallid Grey-headed Lovebird, which is better than its reputation, and may well be a stable breeding bird kept under the right conditions.

Dusky Grey-headed Lovebird

About the subspecies, the Dusky Grey-headed Lovebird, which is only very sporadically mentioned in the cage bird literature. Read - and see - how it differs from the nominate subspecies.

Red-faced Lovebird

About the Red-faced Lovebird/Red-headed Lovebird, which has been kept as a cage bird in Europe for over 400 years, but which is now the rarest Lovebird species among aviculturists.

Western Red-faced Lovebird - Breeding report

About my first breeding of the Western Red-faced Lovebird/Red-headed Lovebird in 2015, which happened after several years of unsuccessful breeding attempts where the chicks kept dying only a few days old.

Black-winged Lovebird

About the Black-winged Lovebird, which differs in many ways from the other Lovebird species, but which still belongs to the Agapornis genus.

Black-winged Lovebird - Colour mutations

On dark factor colour mutations (green series) of the Black-winged Lovebird.

Black-collared Lovebird

Exciting news about the in human care largely unknown Black-collared Lovebird. See the first sensational photos of live birds in the wild ever!

Namibia Peach-faced Lovebird

About the Namibia Peach-faced Lovebird, which is the most common Lovebird species both in the wild and in human care. Read e.g. about the very special breeding behaviour of this species in nature.

Angola Peach-faced Lovebird

About the subspecies of the Peach-faced Lovebirds that comes from Angola, which is only very sporadically is mentioned in the cage bird literature. Read - and see - how it looks.

Fischer's Lovedbird

About the Fischer's Lovebird, which in 1987 became the most traded wild bird species in the world, and whose population in the wild is rapidly declining.

Masked Lovebird

About my many years of experiences with my favorite Lovebird, the magnificent Masked Lovebird, which is a gem in any bird collection.

Nyasa Lovebird

About the Nyasa Lovebird that has become much more robust over time, and about the importance of focusing on access to new blood in the future work with breeding of this species.

Nyasa Lovebird - Lutino colour mutation

About the Lutino colour mutation of the Nyasa Lovebird, which is the first naturally occurring Lutino among the species with a white eye ring.

Black-cheeked Lovebird

About the in the wild rare Black-cheeked Lovebird, including the measures to protect it in the wild and a discussion of whether the Danish population consist of pure specimens.

Black-cheeked Lovebird - theme species purity

A particular problem with what colour the upper rump of the Black-cheeked Lovebird should have, causes headaches among serious breeders of this very popular Lovebird species.

Please be aware of the following:

Naming the species and subspecies

As always, www.birdkeeper.dk uses the "Howard & Moore's Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World", Vol. I, from spring 2013 as well as the latest version 4.1 (August 2018), "Errata and Corrigenda to Volume I", as the starting point for all published articles about parrots. However, this taxonomy primarily deals with naming species and subspecies in Latin and besides only assigns names in English at the species level, whereas the subspecies are not assigned separate English subspecies names.

In relation to the present article, the nomenclature in the published articles therefore instead is based on another source than Howard & Moore, namely the publication "2023 Deutsche und Englische Namen der Papageien, Akademie für Vogelhaltung", published in 2023 by Arndt Verlag (Berlin 2023_03-2023-06-05), which contains the most updated species and subspecies names in English (and German) based on the most recently adopted principles for separate naming of e.g. the nominate subspecies of each species. This decision involves certain issues, as Howard & Moore have assigned Agapornis pullarius the English name "Red-headed Lovebird", whereas the species by the Akademie für Vogelhaltung designates the species as "Red-faced Lovebird". Since the Akademie für Vogelhaltung has updated English names both at the species level and at the subspecies level, I have generally chosen to use the English nomenclature from the Akademie für Vogelhaltung.

Many readers will probably not yet be aware that, for example, the nominate subspecies of Agapornis canus canus is no longer called "Grey-headed Lovebird", but "Pallid Grey-headed Lovebird", and that the subspecies Agapornis canus ablectaneus is no longer referred to as "Bang's Grey-headed Lovebird", but instead henceforth referred to as "Dusky Grey-headed Lovebird". If, according to the new naming rules, Pallid Grey-headed Lovebird and Dusky Lovebird are referred to as one, then they are only called "Grey-headed Lovebird".

Jorgen Petersen

Conceived/Updated: 23.12.2009 / 01.02.2024

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