Are any of these three birds clearflight?

[Hana]

I can do most mutations (all the yellowfaces and dilute/clearwings/greywings throw me off sometimes) but I'm unsure about clearflight. I guess because it doesn't have the pied body that most people don't ask about that mutation or even know how to identify it. Regardless, some help is appreciated. If you need better pictures, please ask. I added Amethyst too, if anyone is able to confirm spangle, violet, clearwing.

Thank you.

 

[Karearea]

Hello!
Clearflight is a fun mutation. You've probably noticed how close it is to dominant pied, the two are very similar. Clearflight pieds have fully clear-colored (meaning yellow or white) primary flight feathers as well as a blotch on the back of the head. They also tend to have small, random patches of clear-colored feathers on the belly, thighs, and rump feathers.


Dominant pieds, on the other hand, are essentially more extreme clear-flight pieds. On the wings, they have clear-colored primaries AND covert feathers. The belly and thighs are more heavily spotted. The tail is almost if not completely clear-colored. They may or may not have a blotch on the back of the head.


If the bird has two copies of the dominant pied mutation, they have significantly more yellow or white color than both SF dominant pieds or clearflight pieds. They usually only have markings/regular color on the top of the head, the mantle, and the rump. Adult males have mixed pink and blue ceres.


From your pictures, Gus is definitely a clear-flight pied. Amethyst looks like a violet mauve graywing spangle: Mauve (DF dark factor + blue) because of her dark grayish-purple body color, violet because there seems to be increased vibrance closer to her rump (though if you don't see this irl she isn't a violet), spangle because of her two-color cheek markings, white tail, and white wings, and finally graywing because you can't clearly see her spangle wing markings but her body & cheek color is not super diluted. The other bird's mutations look right to me though.

 

[Karearea]

As for differentiating dilute, graywing, and clearwing, look at the face, wings, and body color.
Dilute - Pale blue cheek markings, extremely faint grayish face spots, pale silver-colored stripes, pale silver primary flight and tail feathers, highlighter yellow or pale blue body color. Usually not a ton of variety in darkness unlike with graywing and clearwing.


Graywing - Denim blue cheek markings, gray face spots, gray stripes, grayish flight feathers, blue-gray tail feathers, and a slightly lighter body color than a normal budgie. The shade of the pictured bird is the most commonly seen, though lighter ones do exist here and there.


Clearwing - Very slightly diluted body color and blue cheek markings, usually look undiluted at first glance (though sometimes the blue cheek markings are a similar shade to a graywing's). Black face spots are usually absent or extremely diluted. The stripes, flight feathers, and tail feathers of well-bred clearwings are usually quite faint, but there is some overlap between the palest graywings and darkest clearwings. Body and cheek color is usually one of the best ways to identify them.
(+cobalt violet)

Crossing clearwing and graywing results in a full-body graywing, or FBGW for short. These can be hard to identify, but usually have a graywing-colored tail with stripes that are lighter than a normal graywing. Body color and cheek markings are usually intermediate between the two.


Knowing this, can you guess which bird is which in this image? One is graywing, one is clearwing, and one is dilute.

 

[Sparkles99]

Sometimes single factor dominant pied mascarades as clear flight. Here is ex-breeder Winston to demonstrate this. He was sold to the breeder I bought him from as clear flight, but breeding revealed it wasn’t that.

 

[Karearea]

After looking at your photos for a bit longer, I am more convinced that Amethyst is a clearwing instead of a graywing. I try not to jump to that conclusion very quickly in pet birds because graywing is much much more common, but her body color doesn't seem as light as I'd expect in a regular graywing. Maybe you can compare her to some of your other budgies and see that way.

 

[AussieBird]

Are any of these birds related? I'm wondering if Amethyst is a combination of a few of the mutations of the others...
Like a clearflight pied... spangle? + opaline?? Or just graywing spangle??
Her wing markings are awfully patchy and that tail colour is VERY white (as in I feel like you only see that in high quality clearwings?). The markings on her wings seem focused on her shoulder while the flight feathers are clear... much like a pied...

 

[Hana]

Thank you.


Here's a picture of the full crew. I don't think Amethyst is a mauve though. She's way too light compared to Nova or even Skye. That other picture of her was in bad lighting because she's our newest and still hesitant to let us close enough for (decent) pictures. None of them are related except for Atlas and Chamomile, and Apollo and Potato.

(Ignore the food on the wall, it was cleaning day. I was cleaning the window perches which is why they're all huddled together lol)

Speaking of SF/DF Dompied. I uploaded picture of Houdini, Lucky, Luna, and Athena. I was under the impression they were DF. Is this true?

 

[Finchbreed]

Excellent explainations by K.
Double factor pied is an interesting one. And surprisingly possible to get wrong.
My mother has a hen that is almost the spitting image of the bird K has shown as a double factor pied. But she is not.
She was bred as the middle child of 5 in a selected breeding cage from a pied and a normal. The last 3 all looked like this.
Her last years chicks which she produced with a pied mate are a beautiful mix of - mostly double factor pieds - some single factor pieds - an opaline single factor pied (dad is split opaline) and a normal. Again bred in selected breeding cage with no possibility of any other father.
re the 3 to guess - I would say graywing on the right, clearwing at the front and dilute at the back. A show quality Clearwing should have fully clear wings (hard to do) and a clear tail. (ditto) These are one of my mothers favourite and she has had some good quality ones on the show bench.

 

[Karearea]

Thank you.

View attachment 462190
Here's a picture of the full crew. I don't think Amethyst is a mauve though. She's way too light compared to Nova or even Skye. That other picture of her was in bad lighting because she's our newest and still hesitant to let us close enough for (decent) pictures. None of them are related except for Atlas and Chamomile, and Apollo and Potato.

(Ignore the food on the wall, it was cleaning day. I was cleaning the window perches which is why they're all huddled together lol)

Speaking of SF/DF Dompied. I uploaded picture of Houdini, Lucky, Luna, and Athena. I was under the impression they were DF. Is this true?

As the others have said, pied can be quite variable. I feel mixed on most of these birds, but Athena is the spitting image of a DF Dom pied. If you knew what mutations their parents had, it could make identification easier. For example, a DF or SF x normal cannot produce DFs, but DF x DF can only produce DFs.

 

[Finchbreed]

A pied I love - and have only seen rarely - is a true banded pied. The band accross the chest is straight - no ragged edges or colour breaks.
The gene for this is fickle - so most chicks will come out without any sign of it - or with a ragged or patchy band.
That is the problem with trying to breed a random gene.
Some very pretty birds in the above pictures. Some of yours K look like they carry Show genes.