Very unusual hybrid!

[Greycloud]

When I received samples from Hagen, they sent me 3 issues of their Parrot Life magazine. I came across a very unusual hybrid. They stated it was the first kind in the world ever seen. I am sorry I cannot post a pic as the mag states copyright laws.
The bird is a cross between a normal grey tiel and a galah too! It is marked exactly like a tiel, with light orange cheek patches, light grey chest and darker grey wings with white flight feathers. It has the exact build of a galah. Stocky body, short tail, small crest and is the exact size of a galah.
It was bred, by accident in captivity. Simply incredible!

[expressmailtome]

Is this it? It is a galatiel.

Matt

[MissV]

Oh wow, it's gorgeous.

Technically you could actually scan the picture and post it here-- it falls under fair use for education/demonstrational purposes. As long as you credit your source!

[Muchi]

Galatiels are a little more common than I'd prefer, at least around here. Galahs can also breed with corellas and sulfur-cresteds... The corella/galah hybrid is amazingly popular despite what I've heard about hideous healthy problems associated with such breeding :c

It's a very cute bird, and I can see the appeal, but I wish less people were intentionally breeding them...

Edit: I just noticed that the article you have claims the galatiel as the first in the world ever seen? ... Is it an old article? Most bird people I've spoken to here in Australia are already well-aware of the hybrid... o.o; And I've SEEN more than one at a time in an aviary here. They sell for a fortune.

[LovelySydney]

Oh my! They are really beautiful, but you can clearly see the 2 breeds in one! Just when I think I will not see any more hybrids, here is this. It is a very interesting look, I wonder what the personality is like??

[jenniferag]

wow, this it really interesting!

What a pretty bird!

[Greycloud]

Matt, yes that is a simular picture of the hybrid I saw. The pic in my magazine is a front view of a perched bird. It does say"First in the world". I will have to look at the dates of the mag.

[TheHolisticNanny]

OH MY!!!!!!!!!!!.... I did a google image search, it seems to be pretty common.

very interesting......

some one please remind me why this is frowned on?

[Monica]

Hybrids can be born with birth defects, anything from deformed toes, wings, to actual internal organ defects. These birth defects may lead to a shorter lifespan. The most common hybrid that I know of that is commonly seen with health defects would be the sun x green cheek conures. After that, would be macaw hybrids, where-in we are seeing, at the minimum, infertility. However, other issues have also arised.

There's also the pure vs hybrid thing. Many people believe that hybrids are sterile, due to mules (horse x donkey), but it's not true. Therefore, it's possible for many species to hybridize and "poison" the gene pool - because once the bird is a hybrid, it's always a hybrid. There is no possible way to "breed out" the other species, although with enougn generations, the hybrids can look like normal birds - which is an issue for those who want to keep the species pure.

Hybridization happens for so many reasons... anything from "the birds love eachother" to the owners thinking that the separate species are the same species, to breeding for colors (look at all the macaw hybrids!), or perhaps even personality.

On the other hand though, the birds that are being hybridized are not so threatened in the wild that there are specialized breeding programs for these species (at least not that I'm aware of, and I could easily be wrong here), and the species that *DO* need to be bred are those species that are not within captivity.



As far as the Galatiel, you can find the original articles here.
Intro: Talking Birds - Australia's Avian Newspaper
Article: Talking Birds - Australia's Avian Newspaper
Movie-Clip: http://www.talkingbirds.com.au/galatiel.mov

I've also been given permission to use a couple of the photos, and have uploaded them to a gallery, along with a few other photos of other hybrids.
Hybrid Parrots - a set on Flickr



Muchi, I can't tell by your post if you mean that there are more than one galah hybrid (as indicated by your post, and I know there are several), or if there is more than one galatiel.

[Muchi]

Originally Posted by Monica

Muchi, I can't tell by your post if you mean that there are more than one galah hybrid (as indicated by your post, and I know there are several), or if there is more than one galatiel.

Apologies for not being clearer. I meant galatiels.
There is an aviary/bird store here in Perth that has a rather... poor reputation when it comes to bird care. About a year ago, when I was shopping for cages I was told that place would be the best one to check.
Said aviary had bred three galatiels to be auctioned, as well as a few other galah hybrids. I don't recall if it was the corella/galahs or the SC2/galahs that were nicknamed 'Apricots'... but it looked like an orangy-pink galah with a larger darker eye-ring. They were breeding the hybrids on purpose because they could be auctioned for more money.
I know that galahs CAN breed with several other species, but it's a soft-spot for me being a galah owner. The birds looked miserable and I can't FULLY attribute that to just being hybrids (as I said, the place has a reputation) but it really struck a nerve :\

Summary: I've seen more than one galatiel, and far too many galah hybrids.