Such a cute bird! The parrot tears the paper and tries to insert "feathers" to turn into a peacock?

Not long ago, a funny video about a parrot shot by a netizen went viral. The parrot in the video turned into a "paper-shredding chicken" and actually tore the Spring Festival couplets at the door into long strips and inserted them on its back trying to cosplay as a peacock!

Image source: Screenshot from online video

Image source: Screenshot from online video

What species is the parrot in the video?

Why would they dress themselves up as peacocks?

A loyal bird tears paper just to build a nest

The parrots in the video are rose-faced lovebirds (Agapornis roseicollis) , also known as "lovebirds" in the early years. As a member of the bird family, rose-faced lovebirds are also typical monogamous creatures. Once they form a pair, they basically stay together for life .

Therefore, whether it is the professional scientific name or the common name in different languages, the name of this type of parrot is related to love.

Its scientific name Agapornis is composed of the ancient Greek word for love (Agape) and bird (Ornis), and its English name is simply and clearly called Lovebird. In addition, the French name les inséparables (indivisible) and the German name Die Unzertrennlichen (forever together) are all in praise of the deep affection between their partners.

Sweet peach-faced peony

Image source: wiki

Of the nine species of lovebirds, eight are native to sub-Saharan Africa, except for the gray-headed lovebird (Agapornis canus) of Madagascar. The rosy-faced lovebird is the largest of the eight , reaching 17–18 cm in length and weighing about 50 g.

The 9 species of lovebirds are all mainly green in color, with short tail feathers and round bodies. The whole family can be said to be neat and tidy !

Lovebirds Family Portrait

Image source: psittacology

Although the lovebird family is a representative of African parrots, its ancestral home is in Asia. It is closely related to the Philippine parrot (Bolbopsittacus lunulatus) and the short-tailed parakeet (Loriculus.sp) on the South Sea islands of East Asia, which can be seen from their similar body shapes.

About 20 million years ago, the ancestors of lovebirds spread from Asia to faraway Africa through a series of island chains in the Indian Ocean, occupying the ecological niche of small parrots that was originally lacking on the African continent.

The Philippine Parrot, a Distant Asian Relative of the Lovebird

Image source: See watermark

In its native habitat, the peach-faced peony generally lives in dry forests at an altitude of more than 1,000 meters. Their thick and curved beaks are not only a tool for eating and singing, but can also be used to climb between branches like hands, showing their climbing nature!

Some recent studies on peach-faced peony have shown that they can support their entire body weight on their heads when climbing, just as well as most primates.

Comparison of the ratio of parrots to some typical arboreal mammals

Source: References

The rose-faced peony has a unique nesting behavior in the entire family. Generally, lovebirds use their beaks to pick up nesting materials, but they carry nesting materials back to the nest by inserting bark or leaves between the feathers on their waists . The reason why the parrots in the video insert the torn long strips of paper between their waists is actually a reproduction of the nesting behavior.

Nesting behavior of wild peony

Image source: See watermark

Although they have been artificially bred as pets for a century or two, it is clear that some of the original instincts of parrots still exist . In the home environment, there is no ready-made bark or branches, so they have to find various substitutes.

There are many varieties, please keep this identification guide

In the long-term artificial breeding of peach-faced peony, more than 100 varieties have been cultivated. From dozens of original green to hundreds or even thousands of turquoise colors, there are various varieties and categories to meet the different aesthetic needs of bird lovers.

Common color types of peach-faced peony

Image source: See watermark

However, it should be noted that there are two other common lovebirds in China, Agapornis fischeri and Agapornis personatus [also known as yellow-collared lovebirds]. Both of these lovebirds are listed in Appendix II of CITES and are often treated as national second-class protected animals.

Therefore, in order to avoid unnecessary legal disputes, even if the masked peony is cheap and good quality, try not to keep it at this stage. If you really want to keep a parrot, you can choose to buy a marked individual and legally keep a Fei-style peony.

Mask Peony in blue (left) and original color (right)

Image source: PetPlace

When identifying parrot species, you can first observe their color. When color cannot accurately identify them, subtle differences in eyes and beaks can also help us distinguish them.

Both species of parrots have distinct white eye circles and their beaks are more red, with the wild type's beaks even bright red, which is the key to distinguishing them from other parrots.

There is little difference between the sexes of parrots. In addition to the most accurate genetic verification, the most effective way to distinguish the sex of parrots is to touch the pubic bone . The distance between the pubic bones of female parrots is larger than that of male parrots due to the need for egg laying. In addition, there are some "not very reliable" identification methods for reference: for example, female parrots are generally larger in size, have a slightly rounder head, and like to lie on the perch; male parrots are smaller in size, have a protruding forehead, and like to stand on the pole.

Two birds come in pairs, how can you tell which is male and which is female?

Image source: Birdfact

How to raise it? Check out this breeding guide

In terms of feeding, the lovebirds are mainly fed with rice, millet, crushed corn, millet, millet, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, etc. It should be noted that too much oily feed should not be fed , otherwise it will cause the parrots to lose their feathers.

In addition, in early winter and breeding season, you can appropriately increase the amount of food with high fat content to provide them with enough energy, but avoid excessive feeding to avoid feather loss and obesity. Usually, barnyard grass, rice, and millet can be mixed in a ratio of 3:2:2. Hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, oyster powder, green vegetables and fruits should also be added. At the same time, you can also put some branches and wooden strips in the cage for them to chew, which can meet their physiological needs and protect the cage and the facilities inside the cage.

Wild peach-faced peonies are gregarious birds, with a group of at least five or six and up to hundreds of them. However, when raising them artificially, you don't need to buy a large group to raise them, just raise a pair. The reason is that if you buy too many birds, there is a high possibility that they will have incompatible personalities and fight; second, they are easy to reproduce. If you raise a pair this year, they may become a whole family next year.

Because the peach-faced peony is easy to raise and has strong adaptability, in some areas of North America and Europe, the peach-faced peony that escaped as a pet has formed a number of stable wild populations, but fortunately, there has been no phenomenon of destroying the local ecosystem so far.

However, this situation is difficult to occur in my country. The rose-faced peony likes warmth, and my country has a monsoon climate with low temperatures in winter. If the lovebirds living in my country leave the warm environment provided by the owner, it will be difficult for them to survive in the cold winter.

Therefore, in the spirit of being responsible for life, you should take good care of them when raising them. If you really don't want to keep them anymore, you must not release them into the wild at will.

Wild peach-faced peony in Phoenix, Arizona

Image credit: National Audubon Society

References:

[1] Phylogenomic Analysis of the Parrots of the World Distinguishes Artifactual from Biological Sources of Gene Tree Discordance.

[2] Dickinson, E., Young, MW, & Granatosky, MC (2024). Beakiation: how a novel parrot gait expands the locomotor repertoire of living birds. R. Soc. Open Sci., 11(1), 231397. doi: 10.1098/rsos.231397.

[3] Mclachlan, GR; Liversidge, R. (1978). "330 Rosy-faced Lovebird". Roberts Birds of South Africa. illustrated by Lighton, NCK; Newman, K.; Adams, J.; Gronvöld, H. (4th ed.). The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. p. 236.

[4] Domestication of Lovebirds_Zhang Hao

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovebird#cite_note-8

[6] Lovebirds in the air: trade patterns, establishment success and niche shifts of Agapornis parrots within their non-native range

[7] 1.93 million parrots received “identity cards” – Inspection Daily

Author: Song Zhe

A lover of animals and linguistics

Love identifying strange animals

Editor: Dong Xiaoxian