Aussie Finch Forum

Hi all I've had this hen for 6-8 months and I would like to know if the white on the black of her face is related to moulting or something else?
She was like this when I got her.

IMO the bird was stuck in the moult in the head colouring,it was probably a bird bred late last year.I would lay odds on it moulting out completely black faced at the end of this year. Craig

Yep I would have said the same thing. Ive had that in a RH cockbird, he was from a late season clutch, carried feathers like that till following moult and became a natural RH after his moult.

It seems like there is only so much melanin/carotenoids/keratin/porphyrins available to produce the feather colour before its needed elsewhere in the body so I think it must be related to sexual development in the young bird. (Not even sure porphyrins are present in finches as that seems to be only in certain bird groups)
Something else that struck me is that Ive only ever seen this in the birds head area so maybe the emphasis placed on the the head colour isnt the same as in nature. It just seems strange that this "look" in some late season birds isnt more widespread throughout the bird instead of being localized in the head.
Most birds are quite varied in the way they moult and colour up, some go head first, others the yellow "racing stripes" first, or even the chest colours in first, I even have some where the back is colouring in while the head chest and belly are still in junior grey. So the rate of colouring is random yet the uncoloured fathers are on the head.

Thanks for the replies all

I hoped that was the case I haven't had Gouldians long enough to go through moult so don't know exactly what to expect.