The Gray-Headed lovebird (AKA the Madagascar Lovebird) is the only species of lovebird NOT native to Africa, coming instead (as the name suggests) from Madagascar. It is the smallest lovebird ranking at five inches long on average (the same length as the swindern and the smaller black-cheeks, but the gray-heads are slimmer than the others and tend to weigh less), and unlike a few other lovebird species, they aren't threatened in the slightest.
The Gray-Headed Lovebird is exactly what it says on the cover: a mostly-green-and-black bodied lovebird with a light gray head and collar. Their backs and flight feathers are dark green (with wings darkening to black along the tips), their tails are bright green, and their beaks are gray. Unlike most other lovebird species, the gray-heads are actually sexually dimorphic, with females being only shades of green and males being the ones with just the gray heads and black markings on their tails. Gray-heads are not an eyering species.
As their build suggests, gray-heads are faster fliers than other, stockier, lovebird species.
Despite the fact that they're not rare in the wild, these birds are not common in captivity. They breed in autumn, rather than winter like other lovebirds, and they don't do well in the cold. They're not very good breeders: either they don't produce live eggs, or their babies die quickly. They also make poor pets as even the hand-fed ones from the rare bred clutches are still incredibly nervous and flighty around humans. Anyone who manages to get a Gray-Headed Lovebird is encouraged to place it in a special breeding program to help ensure living young.
There are no known mutations for this species.