"Fancy" Zebra finch - interesting!

[Anneka]

Maybe I don't know much about Zebras (which is possible), but I believe I was given a very bizarre piece of info by a pet shop owner.
I picked one out and he said,"Oh, this one is the cross between Zebra and Society."
I wanted to say that it was not the cross but a different color mutation of Zebra, but I didn't feel like convincing him that he was wrong.

[Derk]

Anneka
I do not know enough to say whether or not that bird is a cross between a society and a zebra, but I have had several people tell me it is possible and that the have seen them. I just searched the forum here. You may want to do so, as there are pictures of known society x zebras. It appears the beak shape often gives it away when the bird otherwise looks like a zebra. It will be interesting to hear what the experts think.

[Derk]

Anneka
Love your avatar btw.

[lnlovesorange]

Beautiful bird!!! Love the cheek patches!! So handsome!!! It looks to me like a Penguin Zebra, but I've never seen a Hybrid Zeb/Soci. So I'm not really sure, but he is beautiful. Good luck with him!!! BTW, you will find, as you go, that more often than not, you know more (about finches ESPECIALLY) than ANYONE at the petstore... like you said, no point in arguing... lol

[lovezebs]

Anneka

Hi Anneka.

I'm no expert, but I don't see any Society in this bird. As Ellen mentioned above, it looks like a Penguin to me as well.

Here are a couple of pictures to compare.

~Elana~

[lnlovesorange]

WOW lovezebs her bird looks JUST like those photos!!!! I looked after this post to see what a hybrid looked like, there weren't great photos, but the ones that I did see, didn't look like your bird. He is gorgeous though... seriously, he looks just like the "model" penguin!!! You should be so proud, your bird could be on a calendar!!! lol

[lovezebs]

lnlovesorange

My mistake for not clarifying. These gorgeous specimens, are not mine, just random picts that I found to show Anneka, what her new little guy might be.

Sorry for misunderstanding.

~Elana~

[lnlovesorange]

lovezebs No I totally got it. I know that at least one of them is from Roy's site (efinch.com) cuz i've seen it, that's why at the end I told her that her bird could be on a calendar, cuz it's the "model" for that morph/mutation... I have seen some of your birds though Elana, and they could be "models' as well, so don't be embarrassed. This particular photo wasn't your bird, however your birds ARE GORGEOUS, so dont' be ashamed!!!! That very well could have been one of yours!!!!

[cindy]

definitely penguin but it is also split to pied.... pied as you will find explained on efinch is not a good combination with penguin... it is like an eraser to the color orange in the penguin mutation. I works against the orange in upcoming generations by removing the orange in males.

so your guy is penguin/pied

[lnlovesorange]

cindy Still learning mutations over here. Just wanted to ask you how you know that this bird is pied? I'm looking to learn what to look for to find mutations. If you wouldn't mind sharing your knowledge with me, I'd much appreciate it!!! Thank you!

[cindy]

split to pied... markers for it are white wing edges, white spotting on the top of the head and under the chin

Pied would have more of the color on the body of the bird missing.

[jamezyboo21]

I had a Penguin that looked almost like yours. Very nice looking bird!

[Derk]

cindy
That is a good bit of information to know. So a penguin should or should not have the full chest bars?

[cindy]

this may help.... http://www.efinch.com/species/pengzeb.htm

"Male: The Penguin mutation suppresses all gray and black pigments (eumelanin) on the lower portion of the bird, including the breast and cheeks. The orange cheek patches and flanks are still present, but the breast bar and tear marks are absent. Penguins will have a frosted a frosted appearance to the back of the wings and the tail shows some dilution and frosting as well. The belly will be a clean white even in combination with fawn"

A well marked male will have as white a belly as possible, no breast bar and little throat barring, some try using pied with the thinking it will remove the bars but in fact it removes the cheeks and flanks in future male offspring.

[Derk]

cindy
So then if I understand correctly, when they introduced the pied gene they also re-introduced the breast bars/gene?...hmmm...keep flipping back and forth between the pictures. efinches bird also has some black-'bar' feathers. You must have a lot of experience Cindy. I can see the extra white on the forehead. Not sure I understand what you mean about white on the chin. And re: white wing edges I could not say for sure that was due to angles and lighting. But don't worry, you do not need to keep explaining. lol I know I just need to see a lot more birds.

I have learned to ask if a bird is 'visually' a black-cheek, for example, or is it known to be a pure black-cheek. It is almost impossible to find pure black-cheek males or females in my area. I have a textbook visual black and white male and I can only find black-cheek hybrid hens.