Photo: Dérozier Violette – Licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY -NC 4.0 license
Black-collared Lovebird – Agapornis swindernianus (Kuhl, 1820) – is a small African parrot with a predominantly green plumage. It is widespread in several African countries around the equator.
They hide in the top of the trees and are quite shy. Often seen in small flocks of up to 20 birds.
They are extremely rare in captivity as their food is based on seeds, fruit and berries from local trees and shrubs and they do not flourish without them.
It is listed on CITES Appendix II and EU Annex B.
Mostly green with black-collared nape. The chest has a lighter green and the wings a darker green color.
The top of the chest is reddish-brown. The iris is yellow. The beak is dark gray or black.
Male and female are similar.
Size: approx. 13.5 cm
Three subspecies are recognized:
Central and western Africa. The three subspecies live in the following regions:
The main part of their diet is based on certain native fig seed or fig flesh.
They also eat millet, corn and other seeds as well as insects and larvae.
Black-collared Lovebird require certain native fig seed or fig flesh as a basis of their daily diet – they do not thrive well without these. For this reason they are rarely kept in captivity.