Harlequin Baby - Unusual Color

[birdsnreps]

who knows, lol. since they are blue and red, they should come out purple!! that would be really pretty :)

[KimM]

Originally Posted by huntress

K... so my question is....If a blue and Gold has a green but more BLUE head and a greenwing has a red head then WITH does a Harley have a GREEN head!???

Here a pretty good picture of Newt's head and back. You can see it kind of flows from green down to blue.

[Amie]

Originally Posted by huntress

K... so my question is....If a blue and Gold has a green but more BLUE head and a greenwing has a red head then WITH does a Harley have a GREEN head!???

Nature's way of screwing with you??

That is one gorgeous little guy.

[Parapetenia]

There is a good chance it is a second generation(F2) hybrid(harlequin x harlequin parents). First generations(F1) should all look basically the same, having an even split(50/50) of b&g and greenwing genetics. When you breed these F1s together, because of crossing over and other variables, the F2s could genetically be 80/20 or any percentage combonation.

An example. Here is a F1 catalina macaw.


Here is a F4 catalina macaw.

Pictures stolen from Hill Country Aviaries, Color Mutations.

[Amie]

That catalina looks a lot like the camelots I've seen in person. Crazy!

[silvercb67]

That is one precious looking baby!

[Sashagirl]

That's an adorable baby.I bet it's colors will change after it molts.
I'm owned by one that a friend gave me and her colors have changed.

[Monica]

I've seen pictures of some pretty red harlequins... so it doesn't surprise me.

As for the colors of the head... well I'm just guessing here, but I'd guess that green is dominant over blue and red. Thus, we have a bird with a green head, green back, green and blue wings. Pretty much, the blue and red genes cancel eachother out... However, what sounds more plausable, is that when combined, the red genes mixed with the blue genes, causes green.... okay so that doesn't sound correct, because red and blue makes purple... However, if you can follow along with me, my theory is that red/orange colors are a yellow gene (think about cockatiels with their orange cheek patches - take away the blue/grey gene and you get a lutino cockatiel with orange cheeks - take away the yellow gene and you get a whiteface cockatiel with no cheek patches... cockatiels CLEARLY have orange cheek patches, but when you take away the yellow gene, the orange cheek patches are gone, too! there is yet to be a mutation of cockatiels that creates a yellow bird without orange cheek patches, or yellow cheek patches hinted in orange colors such as the yellowcheek mutation....). So if you can follow this, the red gene of the GW's acts much like yellow does when it combines with the blue genes, thus causing green. Hence, harlequins have a mostly green head, back and wings.... However GW's and B&G's share a trait... having mostly blue wings, a blue rump, and some blue feathers.... so the top half of the harlequin is mostly green, and the bottom half is mostly blue (when looking at the back of the bird), with a blue/green tail. (as seen in pics by KimM! Thanks a bunch!)

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Then you have the chest/stomach/neck colors as well... Since red nor yellow are dominant over eachother, they are co-dominant... because, so to speak, they are the same genes... thus we end up with orange or red orange chested birds. The amount/hue/etc of red will determine the colors within the chicks... hence catalinas (one parent being a scarlet, which is BRIGHT red!) have more of a sunset orange to their fronts, while harlequins (with their DEEP darker red from a GW parent) tend to be more red orange.


Although mind you, I could be wrong! However, if you can think of it how I am, it kind of makes sense!



Add to this, and momentarily forgetting about it...

Psittacin - what controls reds, oranges and yellows in parrots
Melanin - what controls the blacks, blues, browns and greys in parrots
The Color of Feathers
Genetics - triplefaviary

[Amie]

Originally Posted by Monica

I've seen pictures of some pretty red harlequins... so it doesn't surprise me.

As for the colors of the head... well I'm just guessing here, but I'd guess that green is dominant over blue and red. Thus, we have a bird with a green head, green back, green and blue wings. Pretty much, the blue and red genes cancel eachother out... However, what sounds more plausable, is that when combined, the red genes mixed with the blue genes, causes green....
Add to this, and momentarily forgetting about it...

Psittacin - what controls reds, oranges and yellows in parrots
Melanin - what controls the blacks, blues, browns and greys in parrots
The Color of Feathers
Genetics - triplefaviary

Actually, as confusing as that sounds. . . I can understand that!

I'm not sure if there's any truth to any of it, but it's a wonderful explanation and I can follow your logic.

[Monica]

I could always ask a genetics group of their opinion! Although it's not a really big deal... and it sounds strange, but it somehow just made sense to me when the question was brought up! Kinda interested myself to know if anyone else may know for sure!