Pictures Molt and Color Change?

[JaneLane]

So Zephaniah is molting and getting his adult mask in. Right now he looks very splotchy but his mask is coming along nicely but the thing is, the feathers on his wings are coming in a very dark color that isn't showing up on the rest of his body; he is losing his baby "spots" on his back and underside but they are being replaced by light grey feathers instead of darker colored ones. I thought Zephaniah was a standard grey but now I am not sure. This picture was taken with flash, the color difference is much more severe in real life, almost black.

Zephaniah is growing new flight feathers(He was clipped when I picked him up) and they look odd as well.




These last two were taken without flash and you can see his splotchy face very well here.
Overall he is starting to look more silver than grey is it possible that he could start off looking grey as a chick and change during puberty? Or will his color even out with time? Either way I don't care, I'm just curious about his apparent color changes.

For a reference below is what he looked like at five weeks old.

 

[Yoshi&Raphi]

I’m not sure but he’s very cute!

 

[Zara]

@Monica

 

[Nighthawk0123]

Just from the photos - I would say that he's a standard gray. Its not necessary for the tail feathers to be dark grey, such as my tiel who has one dark grey in the middle and the rest are light grey feathers on the outsides.

 

[JaneLane]

@Yoshi&Raphi Thank you

 

[JaneLane]

@Nighthawk0123 Yes, I thought standard grey as well. Its a beautiful mutation and I hear wild types are more hardy but that could be a myth. Did your greys get lighter when they first molted? When did your's tail feathers come in? Zephaniah still has his baby tailfeathers.

 

[Monica]

He looks like a normal grey to me! All my "standard" grey males were adults when I got them... and all either split pearl or actual pearl... so colors were off as is from a male that didn't carry the pearl mutation.

Birds can get lighter or darker going through their first molt. It kind of depends on genetics and offspring colors vs adult colors.

 

[Nighthawk0123]

Did your greys get lighter when they first molted?

Mine came with a very dark grey back and a bright yellow face, but after 9 months, he's developed white spots on his back and his dark yellow have evolved to a lighter shade of yellow.

When did your's tail feathers come in?

All of my birds are rescues so I didn't get him as a baby. He was about 7 months when I got him and he'd already had his first moult.

Like @Monica said - All birds can get lighter or dark after going through their first moult. Their plumage may change over the course of their lifetime.

 

[JaneLane]

@Nighthawk0123 @Monica Thank you both, it looks like that little "mystery" has been solved, I'm excited for his mask to come in and to see how he looks with his adult face!

 

[Ripshod]

I'm the same as you @JaneLane. As Tau was going through his first big moult I spent most of my time studying all the mutations to see if I could pinpoint Tau's. At one point I thought he was a paleface because the yellow face wasn't really strongly coloured. But nope, Tau is and always will be a 'normal' grey.

 

[fashionfobie]

He is so cute!