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Re: Another mutation question... different pic
Posted by Jessica on 6/19/06

I suppose there could always be another explanation. However,
the parents are not clearly black masked, either. Cobalt and
slate masked lovebirds should have pure black faces. The faces
of the two birds in this photo are both grey.

If the parent birds are not pure masked and have some fischer in
their backgrounds, then the offspring they produce will have
varying degrees of masked & fischer in them. You will more than
likely see some babies that have darker faces than others.

The addition of a single "ino" gene is not visually discernable
in masked lovebirds, other than in the dilute mutation (which
neither of the parent birds are). Cobalt or slate masked
lovebirds that have a single "ino" factor will look identical to
those that do not. Besides, if this did create a white band
across the forehead, then at least one of the parents would have
to have that white band, too, in order to pass it on to the
offspring.

The blue mutation first appeared (in the eye-ring species of
lovebirds) in the masked lovebird. The way it was brought into
the fischer lovebirds is by hybridizing blue masked lovebirds
with fischers. Then these offspring were mated back with pure
fischers. The goal is to try to bring the new color mutation
over into the other species, and then breed out impurities that
make the bird have characteristics of the other species. It
takes many generations of selective breeding to create blue
fischers that show all of the character traits of pure fischers
plus the added blue mutation that orginally came from the
masked. However, along the road, there are many "intermediate"
birds that are out there that were created in the attempt to
raise pure looking blue fischers.

Below is a link to the ALBS picture library. You can go to the
masked photo album and look at photos of the blue masked
lovebirds there. There are several photos of cobalt blue masked
and slate blue masked. You can also take a look in the fischer
folder, and see what the blue fischer looks like.


>>
> Thanks Jessica... Here is a pic of the babie's parents.
> Neither of them have the frontal band. Could there be another
> explaination?


ALBS Picture Library

Posts on this thread, including this one

• Another mutation question... different pic, 6/18/06, by Evelyn .
• Re: Another mutation question... different pic, 6/18/06, by Jessica.
• Re: Another mutation question... different pic, 6/19/06, by Evelyn.
• Re: Another mutation question... different pic, 6/19/06, by Jessica.
• Re: Another mutation question... different pic, 6/19/06, by Evelyn.