Black-cheeked vs Black-masked, who's who?

[Lawrence]

Hi all,

This question has been nagging me for a long time now, I cannot tell the difference between the two visually. Any of you have any pointers? From my own deduction, the black-masked have longer mask that covers the head til the neck. But then I took some more picture browsing over the internet and I got confused again because the 'mask' covers the same length. Is it the beak color? Pinkish ivory for black-masked vs orange for black-cheeked?

Thanks in advance!

[linda040899]

Having bred both at one point in my breeding career, I can tell you that there are distinct differences between the 2 species.

Black Masked is properly called Green Masked or Blue Masked. The "hood" is sooty black and covers most of the head. Green Masks have red beaks, while Blue Masks have horn colored beaks. The bib area on a Green Mask is mostly yellow and covers part of the chest in the front and goes around the neck area to the back. You might find a tiny bit of orange in the bib on the chest and that's acceptable. Rump feathering is kind of bluish purple.

With Black Cheeked, the only part of the hood that is black is the "cheek" area. The head coloring is a dark brownish copper color. There is an area about the size of a dime on the chest area that is orange but that coloring stays only on the chest area. Most of the year, the beak is what I call variagated red. It starts out light red immediately under the nares and fades to dark red about a third of the way down the beak. The only time the beak is solid red is when the bird is in breeding condition. Unlike the Green Mask, the rump feathering on the Black Cheeked is green, the same green as the rest of the body. If there is any hint of blue on this feathering, it indicates a hybrid. Here is a fairly good photo of the Black Cheeked lovebird: http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/psittacidae/images/2262812646_673a59_327w.jpg

Hope this clears up the confusion.

[Lawrence]

Thanks Linda,

From that picture that you posted, it looks like the black-cheeked to be have half-black and half-blond mask. Is this common for the black-cheeked? I have yet to see this type here. Also going back to the beak coloring, will it be consistent for the black-masked to have pinkish-ivory once they have matured (10 months+) and for the black-cheeked to have orange/red beak?

Cheers,

Lawrence

[linda040899]

The mask that you see with the Black Cheeked lovebird is standard for the species. Only the cheeks are black. Variations would indicate hybridization.

Blue Masks will have the horn (ivory colored) beak at age 4 months, while Green Masks have red. Black Cheeked will have the two tone colored beak as long as they are not in breeding condition. During breeding, the beak of the Black Cheeked turns completely red. Once breeding is over, the beak returns to the two tone color. Black Cheeks are also considerably smaller than Personatas.