Parblue Gouldians

[TomDeGraaff]

There is a lot of confusion about the term albino.

It should mean an animal (or bird) totally devoid of colour.

Mammls (except cats and humans) have pink skin and red eyes, white everywhere else.

Birds have red eyes, pink skin and NO OTHER COLOUR.

Albinoes can be created by combining a true lutino with a true blue (not parblue). They may, in some species, arise from a single mutation.
Albinos in green-based birds can have a bluish sheen in some light. This not pigment, it is the tubules inside the feathers reflecting blue-wavelength light.
Lutinoes in green-based birds can have a very faint greenish hue for the same reason.

Sorry if this is pedantic but I'm in a bit of a genetics mood at the moment. Nonetheless, these are absolutely stunning birds. I wonder if the lutino is sex-linked or autosomal?
Cheers
Tom

[Myzomela]

So Tom are you saying that the Dutch bird illustrated is not an albino (which I must admit was my thought also)?

[SamDavis]

So Tom are you saying that the Dutch bird illustrated is not an albino (which I must admit was my thought also)?

I presumed it to be a blue lutino? Is this not an albino?

Here's Bert's website - http://gouldamadines.webs.com/. My Dutch is non-existent so maybe someone can at least work out what the breeder thinks.

[TomDeGraaff]

So Tom are you saying that the Dutch bird illustrated is not an albino (which I must admit was my thought also)?

Yes, exactly. It is (probably) produced from a lutino with a PARblue. I haven't seen any true, purely-coloured blues in Gouldian finches.
The blues we have are parblues and many are of exceptional colour but still not the true blue. There are some touches of the lipochromes etc especially in the heads of red- and yellow-headeds.

The same situation exists with the scarlet-chested parakeet to my knowledge (although I'm a bit out of touch, maybe a true blue has come along in recent years).

Don't get me wrong, I've seen some absolute bottler parblues. No one think I'm having a go at them, please! A true albino will appear when a true pure blue turns up.

I remember Norman Cooper in the Parrot Society UK and I both said that a true albino would come along in cockatiels one day. At that time, lutinoes were being erroneously called albino. Sure enough, along came the charcoal or white-faced cockatiel which is the grey equivalent of a blue. When combined, a pure white bird appeared, no colour.

Stop me, I'mm raving

[SamDavis]

It is (probably) produced from a lutino with a PARblue. I haven't seen any true, purely-coloured blues in Gouldian finches.
The blues we have are parblues and many are of exceptional colour but still not the true blue. There are some touches of the lipochromes etc especially in the heads of red- and yellow-headeds.

Thanks Tom. That makes perfect sense (to me at least).

[finchbreeder]

Any possibility the slightly pinksh face is a red head "rubino" effect?
LML

[Craig52]

It is (probably) produced from a lutino with a PARblue. I haven't seen any true, purely-coloured blues in Gouldian finches.
The blues we have are parblues and many are of exceptional colour but still not the true blue. There are some touches of the lipochromes etc especially in the heads of red- and yellow-headeds.

Thanks Tom. That makes perfect sense (to me at least).

Well i don't think it makes sense at all Tom,we do have par blue gouldians that are few and far between but the majority of blue gouldians around are just that,blue.
Blue does not detract dark colours like yellow does,infact their wings/tail feathers remain dark along with a black headed birds head remains black but with red headed/yellow headed blues the colour is changed as in the way the back colour is changed,green changes to blue and red/yellow changes to a biscuit colour.
In a white breasted blue you can still see a slightly different colour between the breast and the belly colour,this is bought about by blue having dark lipochromes as apposed to yellow backed birds where their bellies stay yellow.

Craig

[TomDeGraaff]

Sorry, Craig. I disagree.
A truely pure blue mutation retains ONLY the melanins. These are responsible for the black, greys, browns and, through the spongy layer of the feathers, the blues.
The biscuit colour you refer to is formed partly from the red/yellow lipochrome-style (sorry, I mean carotenoids ) pigments remaining. If the bird was truely a blue mutation, then these head colours would be white or a shade of grey imo. The backs also have a greenish tinge imo.
Also, you mention belly colour. A true blue bird should have a snow-white belly imo.
Finally, I don't really understand your last point about lipochromes and yellow-backeds having yellow bellies. It is confusing to me.
Cheers
Tom

[TomDeGraaff]

Sorry to confuse everyone but I thought it fairer to BlueCuban to separate this from his thread. I'll change the title to something more relevant after you all find this
Tom

[TomDeGraaff]

I actually think that whilst a true blue Gouldian would be an improvement over some parblues, the combination with a lutino would produce a pure white bird - not much different in appearance to a white Bengalese.
The parblues around today are of great quality. One day I may hopefully get some