FINCHforum

I am trying to 1) take pictures of each of our Zebras, 2) post the pictures on the forum 2) solicit opinions as to what color mutations some of them may be.

This first bird is "Mumble", a male Zebra.
Mom and I just adore him. He is extra sweet and responsive, even housed with other Zebras, he always responds.
Don't know age (told may be around 2 yrs) or parentage.
Thoughts?
What is he?
What would be a good mate?

I can't help you but he is so cute!

The best place for Zebra genetics is the zebra yahoo group - all the experts are there There are a few on the forum too and hopefully they can help.

I have to agree with Misty..he is a real cutie

Looks like a pied fawn but I am no expert. He is cute though and I am an expert on cuteness!

My guess would be fawn or lightback, pied. Maybe split bb since his tear mark is so small.

But a beautiful bird And some genetics only show themselves in the offspring, or at least better.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

I would agree for the most part with the Fawn / Pied ID, but the faint tear drop could be the work of the Florida Fancy mutation rather than Black Breast. FF works to suppress all black markings so if he is split to FF some black might peek through.

To echo Misty's suggestion, post his pic on the Yahoo forum.

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/zebrafinch/

The genetic experts over there would be able to give you a more accurate identification than us amateurs. In fact guess the mutation is one of their favorite games.

There is much wisdom in these replies. You suggestions make sense because I purchased Mumble from a large breeder who has a very wide variety of Zebras including various Pied, Penquins, Florida Silvers, Black Breast, Fawn and Fawn Cheek, among others. He was my source for our penquin female, my crested Florida Silver and Mumble.

Thank you very much.

Here's a new development!

I submitted the photo to efinch.com and got this reply:

"Stephani Sloan Spruill: Would be grateful for any help identifying this male bird."

"eFinch.com: Gray Cheek (I know the cheeks don't look to gray there) Here's more info:
http://www.efinch.com/species/fczeb.htm "


This was my reply:
"Stephani Sloan Spruill: Wow, that is very helpful and a little confusing. He looks more like the fawn cheeks on your website except for the breast bars. I can see the resemblance to the grey cheek and I certainly trust you. Would he be a split, do you think? So a grey cheek is best mated with a black cheek? Are there any other good options?"


How's that for shaking things up, lol?

Here's a follow up comment.


eFinch.com: The way that the "Cheeked" mutation is suppose to work is that the cheek patch turns the color of the base color. So in a Gray bird it would have gray cheeks or in a Fawn bird brown cheeks. It doesn't always happen quite like that since the "strength" of the natural orange color comes out more. You can tell yours is not a fawn by the color of the breast bar. It is a dominant mutation so you can produce birds in the first mating. Combination with Black Cheek can be difficult as that seems to require a genetic quirk known as cross over to combine these mutations. A good Gray or Fawn is always a good choice with Cheeked birds.