The Black-cheeked Lovebird is a small green parrot. In the wild it lives in flocks that visit water and feeds mainly on grass seeds.
Its body is green apart from the pink chest and tail. The face is dark gray, becoming olive toward the nape, and the forehead is reddish brown. The sexes have the same plumage colors.
Black-cheeked Lovebirds live in dry southwestern Zambia and use mopane woodland and water pools. From December 2018 to October 2021, researchers studied bird visits to four pool types: mopane, grassland, river, and artificial pools. They recorded how location and surrounding conditions related to use.
More birds used pools nearer the centre of their range. Pool use was also linked to distance from mopane woodland, nearby tree cover, and human activity. The birds preferred pools with a perimeter under 50 metres and tended to avoid pools over 100 metres. Mopane and grassland pools dried more often in the dry season.Researchers recorded pool size, water presence, and nearby human activity, then compared visitation patterns among pool types.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The researchers recommend small, shallow-sided, undisturbed pools in or near mopane woodland. They also suggest retaining water in existing mopane pools longer and designing artificial pools to meet the birds’ needs.