Busy Lovebirds Make New Feathers Out of Paper

An adorable pair of peach-faced lovebirds sat on the kitchen table and kept themselves busy making new feathers out of printer paper that their human had left for them. The pair diligently cut out “feathers” with their beaks and attached them to their respective backsides.

I always take videos of my Peach-faced Lovebird family with 5 love bird parrots.

According to the Smithsonian, there is actually an ancestral nesting reason behind all this busywork.

Peach-faced lovebirds (Agapornis roseicollis), on the other hand, hide bark in their feathers. Scientists believe that the latter’s more complex behavior is an ancestral trait, and have used this facet of lovebird nest-building as an example of the intersection of evolved and learned behavior.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.