It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:13 pm

All times are UTC - 8 hours




 Page 2 of 5 [ 42 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: Re: Coyote's face is definitely getting more yellow
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 12:06 pm 
Lovebird
Lovebird

Posts: 1077
Joined: Apr 2014
Gave happy chirps: 15 times
Got happy chirps: 74 times
He looks very good with the added yellow feathers!



_________________
Image
Offline
  Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Coyote's face is definitely getting more yellow
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 12:44 pm 
Parrotlet
Parrotlet
User avatar

Posts: 429
Joined: Sep 2014
Gave happy chirps: 1 time
Got happy chirps: 25 times
I like them too! A lot. I'm just perplexed as to how they're there. I'm mostly curious if it's a weird mutation genetic thing because, like I said, as a pied, he shouldn't be changing colors at all. It's probably just that he's just filling out more, feather wise, and the newer feathers are yellow whereas the first feathers were greyer.


Offline
  Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Coyote's face is definitely getting more yellow
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 4:17 pm 
Site Admin
Site Admin
User avatar

Name: Carolyn
Posts: 7986
Joined: Jun 2008
Location: Arizona
Gave happy chirps: 201 times
Got happy chirps: 725 times
Pieds aren't supposed to change their face color, but it seems like there are exceptions to every rule. Either he is a full pied who's ignoring the face color rules, or he's a split pied with a whole bunch of pied wing feathers, ignoring the rule that splits don't do this. He's probably visual pied, but I'm not completely sure whether his mother is visual pied or split. She has some pied feathers on the back of her head, a patch of pied feathers between her legs, and one pied wing feather. She's mostly likely a very light visual pied since all 8 babies she had with her pied mate appeared to be visual pied. But if she's actually split, some of her children might have been splits too with a lot more pied feathers than usual.



_________________
Image
Offline
  Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Coyote's face is definitely getting more yellow
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 5:38 pm 
Parrotlet
Parrotlet
User avatar

Posts: 429
Joined: Sep 2014
Gave happy chirps: 1 time
Got happy chirps: 25 times
Ooo, interesting! So he might actually be a split pied! In which case, the rest of his face will turn yellow, no? Odds are good that he's a full pied though, based on all your babies with that pair.

Is it possible that he had a different dad? Do 'tiels do that?


Offline
  Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Coyote's face is definitely getting more yellow
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 7:07 pm 
Site Admin
Site Admin
User avatar

Name: Carolyn
Posts: 7986
Joined: Jun 2008
Location: Arizona
Gave happy chirps: 201 times
Got happy chirps: 725 times
Cockatiels do commit birdie adultery sometimes but I don't think Ladybug did. Elvis constantly courts her but she doesn't pay any attention to him, and resents it mightily if he comes near her nest.

When I first got her she had three mates - Pip, Elvis, and Azazel. They were given to me along with five babies in the nest because the previous owner couldn't deal with the breeding situation. They'd had the three males for several years, then found her in their yard one day. They put her in with the males and breeding behavior began right away, before she had time to bond with any of them. When I got them the three males were raising the babies while she took it easy. But she had started laying a second clutch (which was why the owners decided to give them all away) and wouldn't let anyone but Pip help with that one - she'd decided he was her chosen mate. Azazel moved on and is currently in love with Teela and Squeebis (both of them) while Elvis is still trying to ingratiate himself with Ladybug. But she's not interested. No one else is paying any attention to her besides her mate Pip.



_________________
Image
Offline
  Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Coyote's face is definitely getting more yellow
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 7:34 pm 
Site Admin
Site Admin
User avatar

Name: Carolyn
Posts: 7986
Joined: Jun 2008
Location: Arizona
Gave happy chirps: 201 times
Got happy chirps: 725 times
I'm not sure why the pied mutation prevents a male's face from turning yellow in the first place, but I have an idea that might help explain this mystery.

There must be something special about the color production in the face area, since the feathers in this part of the body turn yellow in an adult male while the rest of the body turns a darker grey and the yellow markings are lost. Presumably there are some melanin producing cells here that are different from those in the rest of the body. They probably respond to the increased testosterone of an adult male in a way that shuts down melanin production. No melanin means no grey color and instead there's an increase in bright yellow psittacofulvin, which is the other color pigment in parrots. The orange cheek spot is also a type of psittacofulvin.

The pied mutation interferes with the migration of melanin-producing cells in the embryo, so that some areas of the skin don't have any of these cells and can't produce melanin (grey color). This is the reason that some feathers are yellow/white instead of grey. It doesn't explain why a male with a grey face fails to develop a yellow face at maturity, but my best guess is that the 'special' melanin-producing cells in the face that shut down at maturity failed to arrive at their destination, and ordinary melanin-producing cells that don't respond to testosterone were delivered there instead. But Coyote is a light pied so the delivery of his melanin producing cells was closer to normal than it is in a lot of pied birds, and it looks like at least some of his 'special' facial cells made it to where they belonged.



_________________
Image
Offline
  Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Coyote's face is definitely getting more yellow
PostPosted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 12:16 pm 
Parrotlet
Parrotlet
User avatar

Posts: 429
Joined: Sep 2014
Gave happy chirps: 1 time
Got happy chirps: 25 times
Ugh, I wish my phone weren't messed up so I could post a picture but Coyote's face is even MORE yellow now. It shouldn't be because he's pied. He's definitely pied and not split, so he shouldn't be changing colors at all. Except he is! His face just keeps getting more and more yellow, which I love, but I also find kind of fascinating since it shouldn't be doing that. When I first got him, his face was almost all grey with just yellow in the crest (and belly and flights). He is now mostly yellow in the face with streaks of grey running through it, his crest has stayed the same with the thick strip of grey running through the front of it.

I just find it interesting that this is happening. At first, I thought that perhaps he just hadn't grown in all of his face feathers yet and the new ones growing in to fill it out happened to be yellow. Well now that's obviously not true, he's molted out grey feathers and grown in yellow feathers because otherwise he'd look like an english budgie with the amount of feathers it would take to change the color this much. The coloring on the rest of his body is the same, except perhaps he's molted out some of the baby baring a bit, but not enough for me to really notice.

Any-hoodles, just thought I'd share. Cuz it's weird. But I like it!


Offline
  Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Coyote's face is definitely getting more yellow
PostPosted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 1:36 pm 
Parrotlet
Parrotlet
User avatar

Name: Steph
Posts: 370
Joined: Feb 2014
Location: Saratoga, NewYork
Gave happy chirps: 71 times
Got happy chirps: 33 times
Well it certainly is interesting. He is real handsome that's for sure!



_________________
Image
Offline
  Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Coyote's face is definitely getting more yellow
PostPosted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 1:40 pm 
Parrotlet
Parrotlet
User avatar

Posts: 429
Joined: Sep 2014
Gave happy chirps: 1 time
Got happy chirps: 25 times
Thank you! I think so too. Peach is a very pretty girl too, I love her soft, muted colors.


Offline
  Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Coyote's face is definitely getting more yellow
PostPosted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 5:39 pm 
Site Admin
Site Admin
User avatar

Name: Carolyn
Posts: 7986
Joined: Jun 2008
Location: Arizona
Gave happy chirps: 201 times
Got happy chirps: 725 times
I think the pied gene skipped his face area somehow so it's following the normal pattern.



_________________
Image
Offline
  Profile E-mail  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
 Page 2 of 5 [ 42 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next

All times are UTC - 8 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Jump to:  

cron