What kind of parrot/lovebird?

This little guy I named Charlie (although I don't know the bird's sex) I saw it arrive in early March for 3 years in a row as it migrated. It is shown here at my neighbor's bird feeder. The photo is very poor because it was taken with an old camera using the telephoto setting. The colors should be much brighter. It usually ate the blooms from the ash trees as well. I now have a Peach-faced Lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis) which it resembles; however, as I recall , it was larger than my lovebird which leads me to think that he is some kind of Amazon parrot which can vary in size from vary in size from about 10 inches to 16 inches. Charlie was more in the 10 inch range, has eye rings and was very friendly. The last time I saw him, he sat on my car hood and chirped at me for about 10 minutes. I came within 1.5 feet of him without him flying off. He flew to the top of my roof, turned around to look at me and gave a loud call before he flew away on his journey northward.

I have not been able to ID him. He is not a Mexican Red Headed Parrot, as known as Green-Cheeked, Red-Crowned, (Amazona viridigenalis) nor a Red-lored Amazon (Amazona autumnalis). I don't believe it is a type of Nyasa Lovebird, AKA Lilian's Lovebird (Agapornis lilianae ) because its bill is not red and the top of its head not so yellow.

Any assistance in IDing Charlie is appreciated.

Next photo which is a little better ...

This is Ike, my Peach-faced Lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis) for comparison.

To me he looks like a Peach-faced Lovebird. Maybe in the wild they grow a little sturdier. He's not quite as attractive as your pet Lovebird.

Thanks for your reply. He does look like my Peach-faced Lovebird. The wild one was much better looking in person than in the photo. The photo was taken with a very old camera and the colors are not correct. I was unable to adjust the colors. My pet bird is very small and has a smaller white eye ring. Perhaps I am not accurately remembering the size of the wild bird; however, my husband stated that the wild bird was much larger than my pet. My pet has more of the reddish color on his head and behind his eyes as well as his chest area. I have included a photo below where I have tried to brighten the colors of the wild bird with my pet superimposed on it and his body turned a bit to try to have their positions more similar for comparison.

Both the unidentified bird and my pet bird seem to have the same type of personalities. Friendly and talkative. I have wondered why the wild little guy was migrating by himself each year.

The better coloring of your bird is probably due to the food source.

Yeah, my little guy does eat a very healthy diet with a lot of veggies and fruits along with seed and pellets, He is never a hungry critter, The wild parrot traveled through during times of extreme drought.here. He stopped by my house and my neighbors each year because he had found food and water during his first trek through.

This is definitely a peach faced lovebird....it would be best if you continue to see him to try to catch him, as he is non-native and may be a lost pet. (I run a parrot rescue in IL and many many pets accidentally "fly the coop"). One way to lure him is to take your pet lovey out in a cage when the wild one is visiting and they will call to one another. Lovebirds are highly social, as I'm sure you know from having one, and if the one at the feeder is traveling alone, he will jump at the chance to be near another peach face. There are many websites which deal with techniques on how to catch a loose pet bird, so if the opportunity presents itself again, try to catch him. It's not good for these guys to live and breed in the wild as eventually they may stress native species. Here's a pic of my peachy, a pied mutation....his name is Elliott...

I just did some more research and now I think Charlie may be a RED-faced agapornis (lovebird)...they have a more concentrated red in the face that does not go down the neck and is a deeper scarlet color. You can google it and look at some other pics and see if you think it is. They are somewhat rare, so I'm wondering if a breeder didn't release birds that he/she didn't want. Since you live in the south, where tropical birds can survive outside, I think it's common for breeders to do that if they need to get "rid" of birds. Or it could be an escaped pet like I said before. Since they are native to Africa, there's no way it could actually be migrating. Hope this helps a bit! Poor little guy.....

betcsbirds, thanks for your response and information. Your Elliot is so beautiful. My brother and sister-in-law gave us our pet lovebird, Ike. They were going to buy a mutation that looked similar to Elliot that had the yellow markings, but he was already sold. Ike is from the same "litter" or whatever you call it, but doesn't have the yellow.

Charlie does have the red-faced lovebird (Agapornis pullaria) markings, but he does not have a red beak. I read that the female Agapornis pullaria is paler in color and the photos I have seen show a lighter bill; however, it is not as light as Charlie's.

I haven't seen Charlie in a couple of years. Because he appeared every March and was heading northward, I assumed he was migrating. I never saw him at the end of the summer and in the fall. I didn't have cages then. If I see him again, I will try to cage him. He appeared to not be afraid of me at all.

Thanks again for your input.

Sadly it's not likely that Charlie will survive out there on his own for a full lifespan (which for the agapornis species is up to 20 years) ....he may have met his fate and that's why he hasn't been back. Or someone else may have caught him...you'll probably never know! But at least you cared enough to provide food and water for the time he was on your property. I adore lovebirds...in fact Elliott is sleeping on my neck right now as I write this! I'm hoping to set up an outdoor aviary this next summer in my back yard so he and my 3 other birds can spend some time outside in nature where they belong. BTW....the correct word for baby birds hatched in the same breeding cycle is a "clutch".... Take care...

betcsbirds, I believe that he may not have survived. However, I always look for him. Usually, he would only stay long enough to eat and drink so I may have missed him. I found it odd that during the years I did see him that I would just happen to go outside when he was stopping by. I think that we had seen him briefly many, many years ago and thought that he was a pet that had escaped. I'm hoping that was him because that would mean that he had lived about 18 years or so before our not seeing him lately. Hopefully, he has come by and I just wasn't outside.

I had thought about setting up a large cage for Ike, my pet; however, there are so many cats running the neighborhood that I'm afraid to leave him outside alone. Ike will not permit us to hold him nor stroke him yet. He comes to us and eats out of our hands, steps up, sits on our shoulders', hops around on us and hangs out with us during his "free from the cage" time. He began target training this week and learned what to do in a minute or less. He enjoys it so much that he doesn't want to stop. I think that he may have been hand fed, but didn't receive much human handling after he began eating seed. His wings are not clipped. We want to hold him and love on him; however, if he does not want to do this, we will not force him and just let him be Ike.

I couldn't remember the word "clutch". Thanks for furnishing it for me!!! :o)