A small East African parrot with an orange face, green body and conspicuous white eye-rings.
The bill is reddish orange. Males and females look alike, while young birds have duller plumage.
Researchers studied Fischer’s lovebirds in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park during the dry season of 2001. They surveyed a 95 km road transect five times a month from July to December and recorded 240 lovebird observations. Compared with the habitat available along the route, the birds selected grassland and avoided Acacia habitats.
For diet sampling in July and August, the researchers examined crop contents from ten lovebirds; the analysis found seeds, not insects. Habitat availability was recorded every kilometre along the transect. The study also compared other bird species that fed in mixed flocks. These results describe habitat use and diet in this part of Serengeti during the dry season.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species · Near Threatened (NT) · Global
The latest IUCN global assessment identified in 2021 lists the species as Near Threatened (NT). The preceding 2018 assessment described past declines from trapping for export and concern about hybridisation in the wild. CITES lists the species in Appendix II; an official CITES assessment records the listing from 1981.