Black-collared Lovebirds- the Real Shy Bird

Black-collared lovebirds are the most adorable type of lovebirds. These lovebirds are inhabitant of Cameroons, Liberia and the Congo. They are also called as "Swindern's Lovebird". The Zoological name is Agapornis swindernianus.

Black-collared lovebirds are small and 13 cm long. Both male and female are green in color with olive-yellow breast, black ring on nape, and blue upper tail feathers. The root of tail is red; beak is blackish and orange yellow iris. The young ones are usually with paler beak and no black ring.

Black-collared lovebirds possesses three subspecies viz., Ituri Black-collared lovebird or Emin's Lovebird (A.s.emini), Cameroon Black-collared lovebird (A.s. zenkeri), and Nominate subspecies (A.s. swindernianus)

Black-collared lovebirds are known to be very timid birds and hence do not breed well in captivity. No living Black-collared Lovebirds have never reached Europe, as far as is known.

These lovebirds are exclusively birds of the woods, feeding off figs and rice. As these lovebirds are fond of fig flesh or native fig seed, maintaining this species in captivity is a real challenge to an aviculturist. In the absence of these vital dietary necessities Black-collared Lovebirds kept in captivity succumbed to death within days. Black-collared Lovebird is evaluated as Least Concern in IUCN red list.

Countries like Uganda and Liberia have released stamps on Black-collared lovebirds, as they are their nature's treasure. See, how much care they have given for this timid and shy species…