Notes
on the Eye-Ring Love Birds
by Mark J. Roberts
 The eye-ring group of
African Love Birds derives its name from the
white, fleshy, orbital eye-ring that sets it
apart from other Agapornids such as the
peach-faced lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis
roseicollis). This group is made up of four
separate and distinct species: the masked (A.
personata), the Fischer's (A. fischeri), the
black-cheeked (A. nigrigenis) and the Nyasa (A.
lilianae) Love Birds. They are not sexually
dimorphic, and it can be difficult to know if one
has a true pair without the presence of fertile
eggs or without having the birds sexed.
These species
carry nesting material in their beaks to their
nest boxes, where they build bulky, dome-shaped
nests. A budgie nest box works fairly well, but
many lovebird breeders are now converting to
horizontal nest boxes that are 12 inches long by
6 inches high by 6 inches wide. Given the choice,
Love Birds seem to prefer these to vertical boxes.
An ideal nesting material is the palmetto palm
frond, which the birds find pliable and easy to
shape. Palmetto is green and, thus, provides
humidity for the eggs for several weeks.
Species
Characteristics
 The masked lovebird is the
most common of the four species and can often be
found for sale in pet stores at reasonable
prices. Fischer's are still fairly common, but
they cannot be imported. One can expect this to
Possibly raise their market value and lower their
availability. Until recently, the black-cheeked
love bird was extremely scarce in the United
States, but there are a few breeders who are
painstakingly building up colonies that will
hopefully make these birds more readily available
in the future.
Several breeders
have diligently worked with the Nyasa lovebird in
the past, and, in the long run, all of them met
with failure. The Nyasa is a difficult bird to
acclimatize, and the mortality rate for
youngsters going through the first molt is
usually terribly high. Presently, I know of only
two breeders who are working with this bird in
the U.S., and through their efforts, we will
hopefully see this tiny bird established.
In their natural
coloration, all four species have characteristics
that make them similar in appearance: the
eye-ring, a red beak and a green body.The mask
and the Fischers are about the same size (6
inches long), with waxy red bills and
blue-colored rumps. The black cheek and the Nyasa
are smaller (5 inches long), with light-green
rumps (any discoloration is a sure indication of
hybridization with masked or Fischer's
Love Birds). They have a distinct brown iris, and
their bills are red at the tip and gradually fade
to a pale pink at the base.
Breeding and
Mutations
All eye-ring
species can be colony-bred;in fact, some breeders
believe these birds thrive and breed better in
colony settings. Black-cheeked and Nyasa
Love Birds are extremely peaceful in colony
setting. The only possible problem is that Nyasas
have been known to attack the youngsters of other
pairs that are emerging from the nest box for the
first time. The masked and Fischer's Love Birds
are also peaceful but can occasionally show
aggression toward lone, unpaired birds. While the
Masked and Fischer's are fairly hardy, black
cheeks and Nyasas should be wintered indoors.
Prolonged cold and damp weather can be deadly to
them.
All of the
eye-ring species make excellent foster parents
for other eye-rings. If they are on eggs,
additional eggs can be added, or chicks can even
be added to an existing nest of young. Just make
sure that the eggs or chicks, are within a week
of the same age of the nest that you are adding
them to; also, no more than five young should be
in the total clutch. Infertile pairs can also be
used to foster eggs and raise young.
On the whole, I
have found that the eye-ring species seem to make
the best hand-fed pets of all the Love Birds,
especially the masked and black cheeks. In fact,
I have found that black cheeks are the sweetest
of all hand-fed Love Birds. One should realize,
though, that until this bird is established, all
available stock should be utilized for breeding.
All four species
will freely interbreed with each other, and their
offspring are fertile. A tragic mistake in the
past few years has been ·that many breeders
(especially European) have thought that the
eye-ring group was simply one species with four
subspecies. This has resulted in massive
hybridization in an effort to produce a variety
of color mutations. This is unfortunate because
it has become increasingly difficult to find
100-percent pure stock.
An example of this
hybridization is found in the ino factor (lutino
and albino). The only true natural occurrence of
the ino factor has been the lutino Nyasa
lovebird. All other mutations, such as the lutino
and albino masked and Fischer's, and the lutino
black cheek, have hybrid blood in them from the
Nyasa. Hybridization has also occurred in the
blue series, in that the blue Fischer's, and blue
Nyasa originated from the blue masked. The same
holds true of the dilute mutation (yellow and
white) of which the masked is the legitimate
origin of this color, and the dilute yellow
Fischer's is ultimately of hybrid blood.
A very important
pure mutation that was produced in mid 1970s is
the fallow masked. This bird originated in the
collection of Kay Parcell of Southern California,
in her outdoor colony of blue maskeds. The fallow
masked is described as a light-blue bird, and it
appears very similar to the dilute blue masked,
but with red eyes. In the green series, it looks
much like a dilute green masked with red eyes.
Fallow masked are like many other mutations in
that not only do they produce the visible
Mutation, but they also produce birds that look
normal but are split to fallow. This mutation is
of extreme importance; because it is one of the
few pure lovebird mutations that has been
developed here in the U.S.
According to Kay,
the visible fallow is somewhat of a delicate
mutation that should be aviary-bred as opposed to
cage-bred. Visible fallows are flighty, sensitive
to sunlight and need places to hide, such as nest
boxes, which should be left up year round. Kay
believes that this could possibly be because of
poor vision. If this is so, then this might
account for their flightiness and desire to stay
out of the direct sunlight. Kay has had great
success by allowing her birds to choose their own
mates. This is done by releasing several birds
into one flight and, thus, forming a colony. Kay
cautions against breeding a visible fallow to a
visible fallow. Again, these are delicate birds,
and breeding a fallow to a fallow is likely to
produce birds with birth defects. the best
results come from pairing a visible fallow to a
split. The result of this type of pairing is 50
percent fallow, and 50 percent split fallow.
Kay has had a
difficult time establishing this bird but not
because they are difficult to breed. In fact, she
says they breed readily for her and are good
parents. The difficulty has been in keeping her
breeding stock. Originally, she gave nearly all
of her birds to a lovebird breeder who is a
genetics expert. The breeder was to establish
them but, so far, has not been as successful as
was hoped. A few years later, a thief stole
nearly all of her fallows and splits; therefore,
she had to start all over again. Fortunately Kay
is now to the Point in her breeding program where
she will probably have a sufficient number of
young to sell. This mutation deserves careful
attention from the avicultural community, and
those of us who enjoy Love Birds appreciate Kay's
diligence and commitment to the fallow mask.
Another beautiful
new mutation that has evolved in the past few
years is the dark-factored Masked lovebird. in
this mutation, the colors are simply darker and
richer in comparison to the normal green and
blue. Actually, within this mutation are several
mutations, including the single dark factor
("Medium", or Jade and Cobalt) and the
double dark factor ("Dark", or olive
and Slate). An interesting fact about this bird
is that the dark factor is dominant over the
natural colorarion. This means that when pairing
a normal-colored bird to a dark-factor bird,
there will be more dark factors than normals in
the average clutch. There are no dark factor
splits, only visibles. Also, double dark factors
are easily produced by the pairing of two single
dark factors. In Europe, this mutation has
already been hybridized into the other eye-ring
Love Birds, producing dark-factor black cheeks,
Fischer's and Nyasas.
One can eliminate
most visible hybrid traces by generations of
continued outcrossing, but is it really worth it!
Mutations have their appeal, but, personally, I
would much rather have a big, strong specimen in
the natural color than a small, weaker-looking
mutation that has evolved from who knows what?
The mutations that are pure can be strengthened
in size and stamina by breeding them to the
normal-colored bird.
The eye-ring
species are rewarding to work with in that they
are fairly consistent in their breeding efforts.
With a little luck, patience and conditioning one
can expect about a dozen young each year from a
steady, compatible pair. These birds are fun to
watch; they seem to be little clowns, always
showing off. I can still remember the first time
I saw a beautiful blue mask owned by a lady in a
pet store. I had never had any interest in birds
until that moment, but then I became
enthralled--a feeling that continues even to this
day!
(This article
first appeared in the Dec. 1994 issue of Bird
Breeder Magazine. It is reprinted with the
permission of the author, who updated the article
for publication here).
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