The owner of a bird sanctuary has set up a dating agency for lovelorn parrots.
Rita Ohnhäuser recently celebrated helping her 2,000th client find a partner.
The ornithologist says she realised there was a gap in the market after a flood of requests from parrot owners struggling to get a mate for their bird.
There are arguably some striking similarities between the birds' dating behaviour and that of human beings.
"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," Ohnhäuser said.
"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."
However, the more cynical might find a disjunction between their experience of human wooing and Ohnäuser's account of parrot courtship.
"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."
