Aussie Finch Forum

look at these parsons normal but look at there body colour it is light like mine i was just lookin around and found this pic

Its hard to tell from a small pic but when there light they will be splits to white or fawn.

How are these birds colouring up Toddles?..........Sorry, but they look so sus ......like the others suggested, they look to me as though they are hybrids.....probably Hecks (red bill) Longtails............the pintails are a giveaway and the bill looks like it has a bit of red.....

I understand that alot of our Parsons/Diggles have been hybridised over the years with Longtails.....especially by those seeking to introduce colour mutation into the Black throat population......

That's what I was thinking. These look like hybrids! The general shape and the tail all have tell-tale signs.

hay i hope they are not but they have white nails which means they are pieds of sometimes split or it means that they have a decease hope not they are nice and healthy i will take some pic of them right next to a norm and put them up and there have a made a nest but they seem to sleep in it at night hehe but it is just a waiting game

hey Toddles, how are these doing?
Sorry but yes I have to agree with the hybrid theory, posture, length and those obvious pin tails point them to be a hybrid.
The toe - nails in my experience are no indication of any sort - I've had normal longtails, and also orange breasts with white toenails and they weren't mutations or splits.
Also it could be... well I'm sure you know what birds produce that is white

Not a finch I have kept, but pieds frequently have light/white beaks and or toes. So would be curious to hear what happened also.
LML

toddles044 wrote:hi all i have recently enquired some new finches and they are Parsons but these Parsons have white bills not black they do have small amounts of white in there toe nails so i was just wondering if they were a new mutation or what because i have never herd of white billed parsons thanks.

Hi Todd, they are not Parsons, they are Long Tails!

Parsons are Black-throated Finch (Parson finch - white rump) Poephila cincta

What you have there is a Long-tailed Finch (Poephila acuticauda).

I would hesitate a guess that they are the yellow/orange subspecies, as apposed to the nominate species (Hecks) which has a coral red beak.

So sorry, nothing to see here...move along lol - just kidding around...but seriously, they are not Black Throats!

Have notice the odd "pale billed" longtail over here in WA over the years - in fact there was a pair (or two birds at least) in the last WA finch club auction. I believe them to be a mutation where the beak colour only is affected (and perhaps the toes).

Personally can't see the point in it but you could breed one back to a normal yellow-bill (preferable a light billed cock). If you get some young pale bills (they would be hens) it would most likely be a sex-linked mutation. Otherwise one of the young need to be bred back to the the coloured parent to see if anything eventuates

Forgot to mention that if they are in fact longtails then housing them with the parson (the blackbilled bird in the picture - I dont think it a young blackheart) is a no-no!