white billed Parsons new mutation?

[arthur]

Even the 'blackbilled bird' appears to have the needles in the tail . . indicating hybrid

My opinion is that they are all hybrids . . another pitfall associated with buying from a dealer/ petshop

Not saying that supplier was unscrupulous . . more likely lack of bird knowledge

And if the breeder had any thoughts that the birds were a new mutation, then he would have been unlikely to have unloaded them onto a petshop

[finchbreeder]

Unless the breeder was inexperienced, in which case may not have even noticed they were different. Or just thought they were the less colourful ones so quit them and keep the brighter ones. It happens many times with less experienced breeders. My mother can relate a couple of incidences over the years of birds she later realized were not poor examples of a type, but in fact a new mutation that had arrisen from the type.
LML