What could she have been?

[BirdVice]

I, quite unfortunately, had a young zeeb die on Sat morning right before my eyes. She had been tossed from the nest twice (the first time I found her she was cold) and I hand fed her many times and she never quite got the hang of it and was always the last in the next to get any food from her foster parents, so I suppose I'm not too surprised she didn't make it.

I was fascinated by her markings, however. She had cream colored cheek patches, barely noticeable white, lacy patterns on her wings and bars on her tail and, her beak color was beginning to change. Her lower mandible was horn colored. I've never seen that. Two other clutchmates have the same colorings, but without the unique beak coloration.

Mom is a CFW and dad is a normal grey.

Any ideas on what the sweet little thing would have been?

She was still a juvenile.

[Nagdabit]

So sorry to hear about the little one. There really is a tendency to bond with the fragile ones as you try to nurse them back. Even though you prepare for the worst it's always difficult when the worst actually comes.

I apologize if I'm not following you, I noticed how you described all her markings, but didn't see what her base coloring was? And how did you come to the conclusion that she was a hen? Approximately how old was she? I'm assuming you don't have any pictures of her, but could you post some of her similarly colored siblings?

I apologize if I'm asking more questions than you are. For some reason I'm just not getting the picture in my head. Most likely sleep deprivation side effects on my part.

[BirdVice]

Yes, I should have specified that I just called her a girl because she "felt" like one to me. Because I had no clue what she was mutation-wise, I had no idea what sex it was.

I guess I would call her over-all coloring a white-creamy coloring, with the cheek patches even lighter than the body...just beautiful.

[BirdVice]

Ah, and I won't be able to post pics, as I have no internet at home and can't be doing so from work! Sorry!!!!

[Nagdabit]

I apologize, could have sworn I posted a response this morning. I would guess from your description that the little one might have been of the Florida Fancy or Orange Breast mutation. Both can show the faint cheek coloring and lacing at a fairly young age.

Since mom was a CFW that is always a possibility as well. The faint traces of gray that show up on some young ones could give the appearance of lacing. And I've seen some young that actually give the appearance of cheek patches that molt out after a period of time.

For reference I've included a couple of pictures of a young Florida Fancy that just fledged yesterday. Little fella was extremely cooperative this evening. Please take note of the lacing in his feathers on the second pic. Does he resemble your little one at all?

[BirdVice]

Yes, she/he did look a good bit like the second picture, but with distictive creamy cheek patches and a teardrop.

Now, one of its clutchmates, who look a lot like it did, is developing some dark spots in the creamy cheek patches??

Darn! I hate my lack of internet at home!

[Nagdabit]

How pronounced were the teardrops? True Florida Fancy birds show no black at all, (like little Peanut) while the Single Factors (Florida Silvers) can display some but usually very muted. Best I can say now is what until it's sibling molts and go from there. Sorry that I wasn't much help.