What Colour Is This Gouldian?

[lovezebs]

Hello Friendly Finchers...

Going over some pictures of different species on the internet, I came across a picture of this Gouldian and did a double take.

Any ideas about the colour of this bird?
I have no idea whatsover....

[GouldianGuy]

I'd say an old red headed female... the legs are quite dark?

[lovezebs]

GouldianGuy

A female for sure, and Red headed, but the body colours are really weird too, don't you think?

Yes, it is an older bird, you're right, but that doesn't explain the odd feather colour, and the yellow patch on top of the head. Is she a green, a blue, or something in between?

[lovezebs]

No ideas anybody?

Are debbie, Wildbill, or hanabi, still with us???

[Sheather]

She looks like a blue and green chimera to me - two seperate embryos which fused early in development and are now forming a single bird. The top of her head is straw-colored, like a red-head looks when it's blue-backed.

[lovezebs]

Sheather

What a fascinating idea.
The only time I've really heard of Chimera is in mythology, and actually had to look it up and do some reading on the subject.

I wish I could find out more about this particular bird. I'll have to try and remember where I came across this picture, and see if there are any leads as to where it comes from or what the story is about it.

Thanks Dylan.

[Sheather]

You more often see chimeras in a much more obviously half-and half form, known as halfsiders, but the underlying cause is the same. There are two animals with two different mixtures of genes, basically, mashed together into one body.

[lovezebs]

Sheather

This I have come across on the Forum, just never put that name to it.

It must be a trully fascinating part of genetic studies.

[GouldianGuy]

She looks like a blue and green chimera to me - two seperate embryos which fused early in development and are now forming a single bird. The top of her head is straw-colored, like a red-head looks when it's blue-backed.

It could also be a "Mosaic"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_(genetics)

[lovezebs]

GouldianGuy

I was reading a bit about that as well, when I read about the Chimeras.

[Stephanie]

Sheather, that bird also looks hermaphroditic. The colour split is distinctly male one side, female the other. What do you make of that?

lovezebs, your photo is like nothing I've seen. Perhaps it's an odd result that can come from inbreeding of blues? Though the photo looks like a wild environment. I don't know!

[Icearstorm]

Stephanie
The tip of the half-sider's beak looks all red to me, so perhaps one side is a lilac-breasted male. The purple-breasted side has more blue, though, so maybe it's beak coloring is non-symmetrical.