On Valentine’s Day, Phoenix residents and visitors looking up at the city’s green flashes in the sky may be seeing a small parrot with a big reputation for staying with its partner. Rosy-faced lovebirds—thought to be descendants of pet birds from the other side of the world—have built what experts describe as the largest, most firmly established colony outside southwestern Africa. An AP report says the birds have survived Arizona’s heat by sticking close to humans and the air conditioning they provide, and that their long-term attachment is a behavior people can observe up close.
Robert Carter, a volunteer for the Maricopa Bird Alliance who leads bird walks around Phoenix, said no one knows for sure how the lovebirds began living in the area. The birds were first noticed around the city in the 1980s, and Carter said some people think pet lovebirds escaped or were released by owners, while others have speculated that they might have flown all the way to Arizona—though Carter said that explanation would likely have led them to find other arid regions along the way. He estimated the population has grown to about 2,000 birds in Phoenix.
Carter also described how the colony uses the urban landscape to get through the desert. The birds can be seen perching and roosting in cactus and palm tree holes, and on really hot days they also gather near air conditioning vents “to at least be a little less hot,” including at Arizona State University’s science building. Carter said he does not believe they should have left Africa, but he said he admires their adaptability, describing what the birds show in their new environment as “a sense of resilience.”
Audubon’s Kenn Kaufman said Phoenix is the best-known example in the United States, but it is not the only place where rosy-faced lovebirds have taken hold. He said colonies also exist in Hawaii, including on the Big Island and in Maui, and he told AP that another species—Fischer’s lovebird—has established a small colony on the southern coast of Portugal. Kaufman said lovebirds’ lifelong partnership behavior is central to their name, which comes from their tendency to form bonds with mates that perch close together, “almost like they’re cuddling.”
Kaufman said that while many parrot species mate for life, fewer than half of bird species do, and he added that genetic testing has found that some birds considered “socially monogamous” may still breed with other birds while raising young with their mate. He said lovebirds are not known to stray, and he pointed to companion behaviors that keep the relationship active over time—cleaning their mates’ feathers, especially those that are hard to reach, and feeding one another food not only during courtship but throughout their lives.
The report also describes how veterinarians and bird specialists interpret what the birds do when a partner is no longer present. Dr. Stephanie Lamb, an associate veterinarian and bird specialist at the Arizona Exotic Animal Hospital, told AP that people who have kept lovebirds as pets report that a mate can seem depressed after losing a partner, including by becoming less active or making abnormal calls. Kaufman said lovebirds also show affection openly, engaging in what he called a “parrot display of affection,” with the birds passing food to each other with their beaks in a way that can look like kissing.
But the AP report noted that the behavior is not “quite so romantic” when humans understand what is being exchanged: the food the birds swap is regurgitated. Lamb also said that, like other parrots, lovebirds can sometimes turn to aggression, including screaming and pecking one another with beaks strong enough to crack open seeds. She described how they can take a break by sitting apart in a cage until one approaches, nudges toward the other, and the pair returns to its cuddling routine. ___ Slevin reported from Denver.