How to find the right bird: dating agency for parrots

How to find the right bird

A German ornithologist who started a dating agency for parrots has just brought her 2,000th pair together.

Rita Oenhauser, 34, who runs a bird sanctuary at Schoenefeld just outside Berlin, said: "I realised there was a gap in the market because I had so many people asking me about finding a partner for their birds.

"Unlike a regular dating agency my work is very satisfying, as parrots, like swans, will mate for life and remain faithful - parrot pairs stay together until the end.

"It is really sweet to watch, they spend every minute of every day together, the male looking after the female and feeding her and sitting together on their perches."

She added: "I don't have to do much other than make the introductions, some birds experience love at first sight, while others make a really careful choice before entering a relationship and need to be talked into it with a complicated courtship.

"It can take up to three months of being given the best bird seed or even building an elaborate nest to entice a reluctant partner."