I've noticed that a lof of times some of you can tell the difference in a bird's mutation based on the color of it's cheek patches. I was wondering if there is a list somewhere telling what color patch goes with which mutation.

 

I started out checking the standards for the different mutations, but all I found were color bars, which I had a hard time interpreting what colors they were meant to be.

 

Then I did a search for "cheek patches" and of course, I got a thousand matches! I spent about half an hour going through the posts that came up, and have been able to compile an incomplete list, but I was wondering if there was an easier way to learn. In other words, has somebody already put together such a list?

 

What I've come up with on my own seems like most budgies have blue or violet cheek patches, and that some of the other mutations then affect the shade of this.

 

Anyway, it would be nice if there was a cheat sheet to consult!

their is a book with the mutations and their exact colouring of body feet cheek patches extra

but im afraid im not able to remember it as i myself have been looking for this book for a while

i had it once but have misplaced it along the years

sorry but most books with mutations have it written

The budgerigar standard has all that info http://www.sqbba.com/Standard03WebAmended31Oct08.pdf

 

 

as does a section in our faq area. http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/faqs/i...=show&cat=6

The budgerigar standard has all that info http://www.sqbba.com/Standard03WebAmended31Oct08.pdf

 

 

as does a section in our faq area. http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/faqs/i...=show&cat=6

 

 

Awesome! I just spent an hour reading over the Standard, and I'm not even a show breeder! Or in Australia!

 

I like the way the cheek patches are described with words in the first link, as opposed to the color charts of the link to our faqs. I also liked the historical part in the beginning of the Standard that described when each mutation first appeared. I kind of just skimmed it, though, so sometime I will have to go back and read it through.

 

Cheek patches seem pretty straightforward, and I think I can learn them no trouble. But Tail feather colors are another story! I will leave learning those for another time.

World budgerigar organisation http://wbo.bestofbreeds.net/

World budgerigar organisation http://wbo.bestofbreeds.net/

 

 

Thank you, Dr. Nat. If you go there and click on WBO Colour Standards, it lays it out very nicely.

okay, so I've been studying the color patch information on those links, and I've learned a few things:

 

It looks like all budgies have a basic violet colored cheek patch, which is then affected by the budgie's various factors and mutations. (Makes sense)

 

The Grey Factor turns the violet to grey, which is then affected in the same way that the various factors and mutations would affect the violet.

Dark and Violet factors have a darkening affect on the cheek patch color. The more dark or violet factors the bird has, the darker the cheek patch, until it can even look black. (Especially if it started out grey.)

 

The following mutations have additional effects:

 

Clearwing- Brightens the patch, as it does with body color.

 

Greywing and Dilute- Lighten the patch, as they do with body color.

 

BES and Suffused- Lightens the patch even more, so as to make it white with a pale suffusion of color. Again, just as these mutations affect the body color. (Assuming these are actual mutations- they're in the standard-but that is a different discussion!)

 

Darkwing- Lightens the patch to pale violet.

 

Lacewing- Reduces the patch to pale violet.

 

Ino- Reduces the patch to white.

 

DEC- Replaces the patch color with white

 

All other pieds, including spangle- Replace all or part of the patch color with silvery-white.

 

DF spangle- Replaces the whole patch with silvery-white.

Now, this may seem obvious to all of you who already know your cheek patch colors and what they indicate. But to me, I was pleased to discover that there was an organized pattern to it, and not just a random chart of colors to memorize.

 

Another way to look at it would be if you started with the color of the cheek patch, and then looked on a chart to see what mutations correspond with the color:

 

COLOR : POSSIBLE MUTATIONS

 

Grey, any shade: Bird has grey factor

 

Violet, brighter than normal : Clearwing

 

Violet, paler than normal : Greywing, Dilute, Lacewing or Darkwing

 

White suffused with pale violet : BES or Suffused

 

White : Ino or DEC

 

Solid silvery-white : DF spangle

 

Patched silvery-white : All other pieds

 

Violet : Everything else

 

 

This second way of listing it leaves a little confusion. For instance, I can't find any way to tell the difference between White and Silvery-White. And Violet is meant to include anything from blue to purple!

 

I don't know if this will help any of the rest of you, but I am glad to have learned this, so I can add it to my tool kit for identifying budgie mutations!

 

By the way, it goes without saying, of course, please help me to get this right if I have made errors and ommisions :rofl:

Edited January 2, 201015 yr by Finnie

I found this very interesting and I think it will be rather useful to me to help me determine colours and mutations better too.

 

Thanks Finnie :rofl:

okay, so I've been studying the color patch information on those links, and I've learned a few things:

 

It looks like all budgies have a basic violet colored cheek patch, which is then affected by the budgie's various factors and mutations. (Makes sense)

 

The Grey Factor turns the violet to grey, which is then affected in the same way that the various factors and mutations would affect the violet.

Dark and Violet factors have a darkening affect on the cheek patch color. The more dark or violet factors the bird has, the darker the cheek patch, until it can even look black. (Especially if it started out grey.)

 

The following mutations have additional effects:

 

Clearwing- Brightens the patch, as it does with body color.

 

Greywing and Dilute- Lighten the patch, as they do with body color.

 

BES and Suffused- Lightens the patch even more, so as to make it white with a pale suffusion of color. Again, just as these mutations affect the body color. (Assuming these are actual mutations- they're in the standard-but that is a different discussion!)

 

Darkwing- Lightens the patch to pale violet.

 

Lacewing- Reduces the patch to pale violet.

 

Ino- Reduces the patch to white.

 

DEC- Replaces the patch color with white

 

All other pieds, including spangle- Replace all or part of the patch color with silvery-white.

 

DF spangle- Replaces the whole patch with silvery-white.

Now, this may seem obvious to all of you who already know your cheek patch colors and what they indicate. But to me, I was pleased to discover that there was an organized pattern to it, and not just a random chart of colors to memorize.

 

Another way to look at it would be if you started with the color of the cheek patch, and then looked on a chart to see what mutations correspond with the color:

 

COLOR : POSSIBLE MUTATIONS

 

Grey, any shade: Bird has grey factor

 

Violet, brighter than normal : Clearwing

 

Violet, paler than normal : Greywing, Dilute, Lacewing or Darkwing

 

White suffused with pale violet : BES or Suffused

 

White : Ino or DEC

 

Solid silvery-white : DF spangle

 

Patched silvery-white : All other pieds

 

Violet : Everything else

 

 

This second way of listing it leaves a little confusion. For instance, I can't find any way to tell the difference between White and Silvery-White. And Violet is meant to include anything from blue to purple! :rofl:

 

I don't know if this will help any of the rest of you, but I am glad to have learned this, so I can add it to my tool kit for identifying budgie mutations!

 

By the way, it goes without saying, of course, please help me to get this right if I have made errors and ommisions :rofl:

 

Nicely done Finnie!

 

Cheek patches are part of the puzzle of determining colour/mutation. That's why I'll often coment on a cheek patch colour when trying to determine photographs of mutations shown in this forum. You just have to remember that there can be natural variations too - so it's a useful guide but needs to be used as part of the puzzle.

 

Just a couple of things - for Lacewings, the cheek patches generally come out so pale a violet that it's better to describe it as lilac. Suffused and dilute are the same thing so you would expect cheek patches to be the same. BES are lightened even more than normal dilute by both the cinnamon that usually present as well as selecting for less and less body colour.