This is a rosy-faced lovebird.
It has a bit of a thing for extraordinary apartments,
prickly ones.
This bird likes to live in cacti,
and he's not the only one.
But how do birds that originated in Africa
end up in cacti in Phoenix, Arizona?
It all began with an open door.
Rosy-faced love birds are originally from dry parts of Africa.
The small, colorful parrots are often kept as cage birds in the US.
In Phoenix, the ancestors of these little fellows escaped captivity
and found a wonderful new world
filled with everything a love bird could ever dream of.
Life here is so good it's taken the parrot species just 25 years
to colonize almost all of the greater Phoenix area.
In the deserts of Arizona, it isn't always easy to find tree holes to nest in,
so the lovebirds started to keep an eye out for a special kind of apartment.
The famous saguaro cactus became the new place to be.
Digging a hole in a cactus is hard work,
so the lovebirds hired local construction workers.
The gila woodpecker lends a hand
or more accurately
a beak.
These woodpeckers excavate a new nest cavity every year,
so there's plenty of unused real estate for the love birds to move into.
With an ideal climate and lots of nesting sites,
Phoenix is a little slice of lovebird heaven.
But what do the birds eat?
The saguaro provides for the native woodpeckers,
but not for the love birds.
Once again, the parrots have had a little help from the locals,
just not the feathered kind this time.
The people of Phoenix love their colorful garden visitors
and are happy to feed them.
There's one final element to the lovebird’s success here.
Back in Africa, they're always found near water.
And here in the city, there are plenty of lawn sprinklers around.
In the 40 degree heat,
these splashy gardens become a lovebird magnet.
It's a chance for a drink
and a cold shower.
Most exotic species that escaped don't survive long in the wild
and fewer still establish breeding populations
in non-native habitats.
But over the past 25 years,
the population of these lovebirds has increased
and they've become regular visitors to the city parks
and backyards of many Phoenix neighborhoods.
The good thing is that so far, the sudden abundance of parrots
hasn't had any negative environmental impacts.
Their preference for nesting sites, food and water
mean the love birds stay in the city and don't threaten the desert ecosystem.
Despite growing up in captivity,
these little parrots are proving it is possible
to return to a life of freedom.
The only trick now is to avoid being caught again.
Want to see more parrots?
Check out our Flying Gardeners video
and learn more about the bright-blue hyacinth macaw.