Elusive Shafttail Colors...

[Emberrhine]

Hello everyone,

I have a wonderful little flock of Shaft-tail finches, and I truly adore these elegant and energetic little birds. One of my shaft-tails is the wild-type color, one is of the Isabelle mutation, and the other three are albino/creamino. I have also heard of the Fawn mutation, which from what I can tell has a coloration somewhere between wild-type and Isabelle.

I found a nifty little finch color genetics calculator online for this species at http://www.finchbreederdatabase.com/php ... 33&count=1 .

The calculator seems to work wonderfully, and the genetic results look sound (I have a degree in Biology and I love studying genetics). What puzzles me most about the calculator is that it mentions a couple of Shaft-tail mutations I've never heard of: Grey and Topaz. The pictures on the calculator page give me some clue as to what these mutations are supposed to look like, but I can't find any actual photos of birds with these two colors.

I have really fallen in love with Shaft-tails and plan on spending my life raising and breeding these special finches. I would like to learn more about these supposed Grey and Topaz mutations--are they legitimate colorations? Where could birds with these mutations be obtained? Are there any other obscure Shaft-tail colors that the FINCHforum community might know about?

I adore Shaft-tails no matter what the shade of their plumage might be, but it really is exciting seeing just how extensive the possible color spectrum of these finches truly is!

Thanks for your input,

--Ember

[lovezebs]

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http ... 015c-M.jpg


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j7mxflvp2bw/T ... l%2529.JPG


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YD_P1wygycU/U ... CF8685.JPG


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h4kWnOhGFyY/V ... em0915.jpg


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AhiMY74h4DE/U ... esized.jpg


http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http ... cmCh0oxAb6


http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http ... Jgod7UcOrQ


Hello Ember

Found some mutations here, which you may find interesting.

[cindy]

Ember, I am not sure where you are located and what is available in your area. There are fawns here in the states. I am in the states.

There are grays and there are opals also.

Most of the mutations that are not common in the states can be found in Europe, Belgium and Holland to be specific has breeders with different mutations.

A very small group of us brought over 2 dozen shaft tails into the states from Belgium and Holland, the came in by way of Canada. We have grays and opals and fawns split to both. All three of us are working to get the mutations to produce and become established here in the states.... it takes time.

Fawn creamino and creamino are pictured here.... depending where you are you may be able to find breeders with fawn and creamino.

[cindy]

Gray on the left, opal on the right....

shaft tail pair.jpg (23.22 KiB) Viewed 984 times

opal pair

shaft tails 4 pair.jpg (36.93 KiB) Viewed 984 times

Gray male

[Babs _Owner]

cindy

Are these the birds that you said were very acrobatic while flying and a lot of fun to watch? Or am I thinking waxbills?

[cindy]

the shaft tails...given enough room to fly in a huge flight they will take off and do patterns.. years ago I had a little colony of them in a large flight that would love to play what looked like follow the leader in in the cage.

[Babs _Owner]

cindy

They are beautiful. I'm trying to find a video of them flying about. If you ever get a chance to to catch them in action, I'd love to see their antics!

[Emberrhine]

Wow, these are so beautiful!!!

Lovezebs, thanks for the great list of photo links. I have one Shaft-tail with the dark brown "beard" on the chin and a pale tan back (it's either Isabelle or Fawn--I've seen the color called both names), and three of the pure white ones with cream markings (creamino/albino), as well as a wild-type male, but I've never seen dark ones like those shown in the second photo! Those are stunning--what is that dark mutation called?

Cindy, the photos you posted of the grey and opal shaft-tails are brilliant! I've never seen pictures of real grey-mutation birds, and the color is so subtle yet so beautiful...I live in the States, and really hope to see some of those available soon to add to my flock. I've never heard of or seen the Opal color, but I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it in these photos! How exciting to hear that slowly but surely, they are becoming available here in the U.S.

I'll be keeping on the lookout for these special birds! No matter their color, though, I do recommend this species to anyone who's looking for elegant, charming, and active little finches. Make sure to give them a large flight space, though--they love to dart back and forth and all around, and you'd be surprised how quickly they can get from point A to point B.

-Ember