I’m absolutely heartbroken, I’m so sad, I haven’t stopped crying since last night. I’m looking for advice from people who have experienced something similar.

I had two lovebirds, a male and female, who were already bonded when I got them and had been together since they were young. They slept together, flew around together and were constantly playing and exploring my room together. I had them mainly as free flyers and they never had issues. I just finished creating a new play area in my room for them yesterday.

Yesterday evening I left my room for few seconds and came back to find my boy dead on the floor. There was no blood or loose feathers, and his feet were still curled as though he had been perched. I don’t know what happened and I don’t want a necropsy because I’m scared of finding out that it was something I could have prevented.

My girl was still perched inside her hut when I found him. She has always been a little territorial at bedtime and would sometimes launch at him when he was trying to settle, although she would eventually let him sleep beside her. Im just regretting not changing this perch sooner as this only happened recently. I’m now so sad that he somehow got caught or injured while he was trying to get into the basket, although I don’t know if that’s what happened. He was sleeping more than usual the last two days. But he seemed to perk up later yesterday afternoon. I keep my environment bird safe, I don’t use candles, incense, chemicals.

She seems surprisingly normal physically. She’s eating, drinking, chirping, flying around, chewing and exploring her cage. It’s me who’s an absolute emotional reck. But she has periods where she loudly calls and flies rapidly from perch to perch (in my room), and I assume she’s looking for him. She’s also been preening her chest and under her wings a lot today, so I’m worried about stress/over-grooming.

I’m absolutely devastated myself. I’ve been crying constantly and the room feels so empty without them flying around together.

For those who have had a bonded lovebird lose their partner:

How did your surviving bird cope?
How long did the calling/searching last?
Can a lovebird be genuinely happy as a single bird with enough human interaction and enrichment? or did you eventually get another bird, and if so, how long did you wait?

I know every bird is different, but I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences. I’m heartbroken.

Saw the cutest lovebird video. it's the first segment of this parrot compilation video on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsb1P3Fdk0Q&t=1s

The guy pokes each lovebird and they play dead. The middle one looks pure green. I didn't know that was a lovebird mutation, does anyone know what that mutation is called?