Originating in a Belgian aviary in the 1880s, the Blue mutation was the second major mutation found in budgies. They remained rare until several individuals were exported to France in 1910, where they gained wide attention in bird shows. Blue budgies get their striking looks from the removal of yellow pigmentation, turning yellow faces white
The Dark Factor mutation was first discovered in the 1920s in its double factor form, now called Olive (pictured third). As its name suggests, its body color becomes a darker olive shade. The single factor form was discovered shortly after, a slightly lighter green bird called Dark Green (pictured first). Combined with Blue, DF Dark
This mutation was first discovered in 1934 by Australian breeder S. Harrison, buying a Grey (+Blue) individual from an unknown breeder. It potentially popped up twice more in Australia in the following years, adding further genetic diversity to the gene pool. Birds with this mutation have an army green body color similar to Olive, as
This mutation was first identified in both Australia and England at the same time in 1934, though populations in both regions had existed for years beforehand. In fact, one of the Australian breeders developing Cinnamon would go on to develop Opaline. Cinnamon budgies have slightly paler body color and brown-colored markings that would otherwise be
First discovered in a Belgian aviary in the 1880s, Lutinos were originally called “goldens” and were poorly understood. Parrot mutations were so unknown at this time that a rumor caused breeders to partially boil their bird’s eggs in hopes they would hatch “golden”. This original mutation died out shortly after, but reappeared in several European
The first Opaline budgie was found in a wild flock in 1933, followed by an aviary-bred individual in England the next year. The British mutation was first called “marbled”, but the Australian name Opaline required fewer translations internationally, and was chosen as the official name instead. Today, this mutation is one of the most common
The Spangle mutation was first discovered in the aviary of Australian breeder S Casagrande in 1971. Although this mutation in other species is known as edged, it was named Spangle in budgies due to how similar the markings looked to spangle pigeons. Thanks to the quality breeders and dominant inheritance of the mutation, offspring were
This mutation, which is one of the three main yellowface mutations in budgies, was first found in the aviary of English breeder G. Lait in 1936. They have very pale yellow faces and body plumage suffused with small amounts of yellow in their SF form (pictured). Their DF form, interestingly, is completely indistinguishable from a
One of the three main yellowface mutations in budgies, Yellowface 2 was noted around the time of Yellowface 1 in the 1930s but remained undeveloped until some time later. Their faces are buttercup yellow, a shade in between Yellowface 1 and Goldenface. Like Goldenface, their SF forms (pictured first) have yellow suffused in their body
One of the three main yellowface, or parblue, mutations in budgies. It was developed in Australia, and, true to their name, their faces are an intense yellow color. Like Yellowface 2, SF individuals (pictured first + Cobalt) have yellow suffused in their body plumage while DF individuals (pictured second + Cobalt Opaline) do not. Both
