Male or Female?

10-05-2007, 01:47 PM

Hi everyone, got some new pictures of our two budgies. Merlin for whatever reason STILL appears blue in his pictures, he really is a violet color so I have no idea why I can't seem to get him to appear that way in his pics, oh well. Skyler's (the lighter blue bird) cere almost appears as if it's changing to a blue color or maybe it's just my eyes playing tricks on me. I know in my other thread several of you thought merlin was a male and that skyler was a female but now i'm not so sure about skyler. Please excuse the wing clipping on skyler, I did not clip his wings like that, he came that way from the place we purchased him at, I am going to let their wings grow out that way they can fly around. Merlin is in the process of molting so he looks a little messy. Any ideas as to their sexes would be much appreciated!!! Also if anyone knows what color skyler would be called? Thanks so much!

10-05-2007, 02:17 PM

I think Skyler is female because the nare appears to have a white ring. Male have the same color nare and cere.

Opaline: Opaline budgies have markings only on their wings but none on the head or back. (They may appear to have faint markings on the back of the head but these are not distinct like the markings on the wings.) Most opaline budgies are female.

Common Budgie Mutations

10-05-2007, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2horse

Most opaline budgies are female.

Really? I never knew this.

And Deb I agree with Angie about Skyler appearing to be a female (although I'm not nearly as good as some here who are able to tell male vs. female when they're young).

10-05-2007, 02:38 PM

Thank you both! So skyler would be considered a blue opaline? or a blue pied opaline? ugh figuring out mutations can be so confusing sometimes hahaha. I wasn't aware that most opaline's are female, how interesting!

10-05-2007, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by svolk

Really? I never knew this.

And Deb I agree with Angie about Skyler appearing to be a female (although I'm not nearly as good as some here who are able to tell male vs. female when they're young).

I never did either till I read that site, but come to think of it I have never seen an opaline male. My opaline hens male babies come out normals. The female babies are often opaline, it could just be co-incidence.

10-06-2007, 08:20 AM

Jerry is an opaline male, and so is Rio.

10-06-2007, 08:56 AM

I forgot about Jerry, Rio is more a dilute. Ok I don't have opaline males hatching. I do have a dilute, he has almost no marking, just very feint grey lines instead of black.

10-06-2007, 09:06 AM

You're right, Rio is a dilute. All of the budgie mutations make my head spin

10-11-2007, 10:39 AM

I know what you mean about the faint bars on the back of the head kind of confusing you as to whether it is an Opaline or not. The Opaline also has body colour on the back, in case you are wondering if it is just a dilute. In Rio's case he is also a Grey Wing - so he's a Dilute blue, Opaline, Grey wing.

Merlin is definately a male. Too bad his violet isn't photographing in all it's splendor - but we can see he is very intense.

Skyler's a female. She appears to me to be an Opaline - see her back is coloured. Her dark markings appear to be cinnamon. Her white stripe on her tummy is a Pied marking, & her patches of colour would make her a recessive pied it think. If she didn't have the white stripe on her chest i'd have thought she was a Clear Flight like Laker. She may be considered a dilute but the sky blues can be quite light. Soooooooo... i'd say she's a Sky Blue, Recessive Pied, Cinnamon, Opaline.

Her babies would have any of these characteristics or all.

On the question of Opalines & Dilutes & the markings - here's Rio & Laker again!
The first 2 photos of Rio were taken in August - the 3rd & 4th ones in May when he was 1 month old - yellowed head is from the coloured wood. Here's Laker for the Clearflight comparison.