Aussie Finch Forum

Need help id these finches have some stars dont know if there a mutation or normal please help

Theres no photos up mate

i know sorry just getting photo bucket to resize them now mate ill have some up with in 5 mins soz

Yay ...glad you worked out Pbucket ...its easy hey .

Yer it heaps easy just up load pictures on to photo bucket then ill post them here soz for the wait.

this is my stars

this is my hen star

You have only been banned from chat Harvey.

I think it's a normal male.

Harvey, I'm no star expert, but I think you have a nonmutant cock there, who looks quite like the subclarescens subspecies. Your hen looks a mutant, maybe fawn only or maybe fawn-cinnamon double mutant (which is the way to breed towards a true yellow body).

There were two main types of wild stars, the 'Southern Star' Neochmia ruficauda ruficauda (which had a dull breast) and the 'Northern Star' N. r. subclarescens (with that lovely yellow breast). A mixture of these subspecies is found in Australian aviculture today, but no pure subclarescens birds exist outside of zoos and the wild, and the ruficauda subspecies is extinct in the wild and has been for some time. (There is also a near-mythical variety known as the 'Kimberly Star' which is not recognised as its own subspecies but is spoken of in hushed and reverent tones by old finchos).

These are the wild-type, nonmutant stars. They have the same olive-green to olive-grey colour on their backs. Your cock looks like a (very handsome) wild-type star, with more of the subclarescens than the ruficauda in it.

The hen, however, has a very differently coloured back: it is hard to see but it looks lighter than fawn or cinnamon that I've seen. On another thread, you have a bigger version of that photo of your cockbird. Could you put a bigger version of your hen up, or a photo where we can see her back/wings properly? Then it may be possible to answer with more certainty.

So my opinion is: Nonmutant cockbird. Mutant hen, maybe fawn+cinnamon (which I think is how you get a yellow body).
My opinion is also low on confidence and experience, so I would welcome corrections to my explication above.

Hope this is helpful, Harvey.