Hi all,Have recently been on a MAD hunt for clearwings. I have talked to some of the biggest and most well connected breeders in NZ, and i get the same message - clearwings are too hard to breed for show, no-one does it anymore. Everyone who did breed them, doesnt anymore. The die hard fans got old and... died. So the advice i have been given repeatedly is 'keep looking around, but i would say get anything you can find, even from the pet shops. You can try outcross them with bigger better birds if you want to improve some aspect/s".It is beyond frustrating! The main reason i wanted a breeder is to be certain that i will be buying clearwings and avoid the very thing i am about to ask you!! I went to the pet store today and picked out 3 birds that could either be greywing, greywing opaline, dilute, or clearwings with 'dirty wings'. Personally, i think they are greywings But i am hoping someone might know better..This is the first bird, its hard to tell from the photo but it is definately a goldenface type 2 mauve (quite blue around the rump). Not 100% sure, but i think it is a greywing. It has a grey tail too if that helps?

 

Sorry the alignment is all messed up in this post

 

 

This is the second and third birds.The second looks to be a clone of the first, except it is an older male. And it does not have a grey tail, it is navy blue. The guy at the back im not sure about, but i suspect an opaline greywing? That or a dilute. Cheeks appear diluted, body colour seems uniform dilute or not (why i suspected opaline). Harder to tell with that one. I will post a smaller picture, under which i will post a link to a larger version of the same picture if you want a closer look.

 

 

Larger version - picture 1

 

Here they are again a few moments later:

 

 

Larger version - picture 2

Edited March 2, 200916 yr by Dean_NZ

Your 1st bird looks like a full body greywing

 

The second looks like a cinnamon but the body is very bright

 

The 3rd is opaline greywing

Thanks nev. Good to see i was bang on with the opaline grey wing Those composite varieties can be tricky and require a keen eye! I am finding the dilute varieties a pain to distinguish! You have greywings with light and dark markings, full body greywings with light and dark markings, clearwings with light and dark markings, clearwings split dilute, and dilutes with light and heavy suffusion!

 

Aaaaargh! So frustrating! I suppose it is a good challenge at least

Lost track of this thread for a while but found it again.

 

Sorry but I am not going to agree with Nev on this.

 

Bird no 1 - badly marked Clearwing

 

Bird no 2 - Greywing

 

Bird no 3 - Opaline Dilute Lt Green. I think the fact that the photo is a little dark is making the Dilute look darker that it really is. Also the cheek patch is way lighter than the bird in the same photo.

I'd have to go with RIP on the first bird - dirty clearwing. Seen sooooo many over here that look just like it!

 

Bird 2 - I'd only guess was a greywing

 

Bird 3 - what other people say coz I've no idea

 

Dean you'll have to come over here so I can give you some nice clearwings to smuggle back

Edited March 13, 200916 yr by nubbly5

I'd agree with Neville to be honest... about all three

I agree with bird number one being a dirty clearwing, as I had one just like it.

Have Australian clearwings deteroriated this badly? I'm sure ours haven't and since this bird is a New Zealander I'll stick with greywing

 

A blue tail with a brown quill like the second bird has is generally a sign of a cinnamon

Edited March 13, 200916 yr by Neville

Number 3 - looks to be a Opaline Greywing with poor colour. Tail is too dark to be a Dilute

Have Australian clearwings deteroriated this badly? I'm sure ours haven't and since this bird is a New Zealander I'll stick with greywingA blue tail with a brown quill like the second bird has is generally a sign of a cinnamon

No Neville there are plently of Clearwing around of the standard with the clean wings. I think what is happening is that when folks (usually beginners with no understanding of genetics) try to increase the size by using Normals they produce birds with heavier wing markings. They show them on the bench and are told they are Greywings. As they don't know any better they then bred them as Greywings or dump them off to others as Greywings. I don't think problem will ever go away. As for the second bird. I disagree. The body colour is too strong for Cinnamon to be present. I bred Cinnamon Clearwings and Cinnamon Dilutes. The Cinnamon does not express in the same way on a Clearwing or Dilute the way it would on a Normal.

Number 3 - looks to be a Opaline Greywing with poor colour. Tail is too dark to be a Dilute

The tail is not necessarily to dark. As I said the photo is dark and as such has darkened the colour of the bird including the tail. Also if this bird is the result of continously breeding in a Greywing line it be modified because of it.

hi guys i didnt see the pics to clearly but grey wings have diffrent cheek patches to clear wings thats all i can add thats the give away on if its clear or grey wing

but you would all know that

Edited March 14, 200916 yr by GenericBlue

Have Australian clearwings deteroriated this badly? I'm sure ours haven't and since this bird is a New Zealander I'll stick with greywingA blue tail with a brown quill like the second bird has is generally a sign of a cinnamon

No Neville there are plently of Clearwing around of the standard with the clean wings. I think what is happening is that when folks (usually beginners with no understanding of genetics) try to increase the size by using Normals they produce birds with heavier wing markings. They show them on the bench and are told they are Greywings. As they don't know any better they then bred them as Greywings or dump them off to others as Greywings. I don't think problem will ever go away. As for the second bird. I disagree. The body colour is too strong for Cinnamon to be present. I bred Cinnamon Clearwings and Cinnamon Dilutes. The Cinnamon does not express in the same way on a Clearwing or Dilute the way it would on a Normal.

Number 3 - looks to be a Opaline Greywing with poor colour. Tail is too dark to be a Dilute

The tail is not necessarily to dark. As I said the photo is dark and as such has darkened the colour of the bird including the tail. Also if this bird is the result of continously breeding in a Greywing line it be modified because of it.

We'll just have to agree to disagree. I breed cinnamons, greywings, clearwings and dilutes too.

Have Australian clearwings deteroriated this badly? I'm sure ours haven't and since this bird is a New Zealander I'll stick with greywingA blue tail with a brown quill like the second bird has is generally a sign of a cinnamon

No Neville there are plently of Clearwing around of the standard with the clean wings. I think what is happening is that when folks (usually beginners with no understanding of genetics) try to increase the size by using Normals they produce birds with heavier wing markings. They show them on the bench and are told they are Greywings. As they don't know any better they then bred them as Greywings or dump them off to others as Greywings. I don't think problem will ever go away. As for the second bird. I disagree. The body colour is too strong for Cinnamon to be present. I bred Cinnamon Clearwings and Cinnamon Dilutes. The Cinnamon does not express in the same way on a Clearwing or Dilute the way it would on a Normal.

Number 3 - looks to be a Opaline Greywing with poor colour. Tail is too dark to be a Dilute

The tail is not necessarily to dark. As I said the photo is dark and as such has darkened the colour of the bird including the tail. Also if this bird is the result of continously breeding in a Greywing line it be modified because of it.

 

 

Compared to the body colour the tail is way too dark for it to be a dilute

Compared to the body colour the tail is way too dark for it to be a dilute

I totally agree. Greywings body colour can be diluted by up to 50%

Edited March 14, 200916 yr by Neville

The primary reason why I think #1 is a clearwing is if you look at the actual markings on the wing of both this bord and #2 and closely compare the 2, you will see that bird #1 the darker markings on the wing are actually MUCH more faded out (or diluted if you will) particularly toward the centre of each feather, than in #2 which looks almost like normal wing markings only greyer.

grey wings tened to have wider markings

 

this a bad picture of my grey wing grey green diluted boy he young but will darken a tiny bit but notice the wing markings are wider than your birds

i really dont know what yours is but i belived clear wing the tail would be nutreal to the wings not grey but i really dont know this thread may help me know what a green clear wing is like

another grey wing a full body grey wing sky blue

 

this picture above is a clear wing pet type though still a violet diluted clear wing

but i still dont know what yours is i say grey wing unless the patches are purple as clear wings have purple patches ,grey wings silver or grey i was to belive ?????

 

i just noticed the bird at frount on first picture is a defenent clear wing

one behind i say defenent grey wing but thats my opinion

good luck working it out

Edited March 18, 200916 yr by GenericBlue

Many of my clearwings have grey tails. Maybe they are not meant to but they do - especially the dark or double dark factors. What I do notice though is that they mostly have a neutral (whitish) tail quill.

 

This is one of my more badly marked clearwings - note the grey tail. I have had others with stronger markings than this too but tend to cull them out.

 

And just to show you the huge variation that can happen with this variety (even in the same family) this is his brother.

 

AND just for looking at - a baby from a normal dark green/clearwing x my clearest clearwing. Looking at it currently I would say the wing markings will be middling. You can see them quite clearly already and they darken as the bird moults to adult feathers.