Colours
Zebra Finches come in a number of colour varieties.
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Fawn
The Fawn mutation changes the black and grey pigments to fawn (brown) pigments.
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Grey
This is basically the normal zebra finch as it is found in the wild.
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Light Back
Light back causes a general reduction of the body colour of the bird, while keeping the black markings intact.
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Isabel
The Isabel mutation causes black, grey and fawn pigments to be diluted, while the orange pigments remain intact. The degree of dilution can vary.
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Yellow Beak
The Yellow Beak mutation changes red lipochrome into yellow lipochrome. Both the beak and the legs turn to yellow.
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Orange Breasted
The Orange Breasted mutation causes black areas to become orange.
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Black Face
The Black Face mutation causes the belly and the area between tear mark and beak to be filled with black pigment. Ideally, the belly should be as black as on the picture, but in real life, it is often less black.
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Black Cheeked
The Black Cheeked mutation changes orange areas into black.
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Black Breasted
The Black Breasted mutation changes the pattern of the markings.
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White
The White mutation overrides all other mutations, except Yellow Beak and Crested. This means that all feathers are white.
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Fawn Light Back
The combination of Fawn and Light Back requires crossing over to happen.
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Crested
The Crest mutation causes the feathers on the crown to form a small rosette.
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Cheeked
The Cheeked mutation causes a loss in colour on the head, back and wings as well as a slight dilution of the black markings. But the most noticable effect is that the cheeks and flanks take the base colour. (i.e. Grey Cheeked have grey cheeks and flanks, and Fawn Cheeked have fawn cheeks and flanks.
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Silver
Silver is also known as Dominant Dilute. The mutation causes all colours to be diluted.
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Pied
The Pied mutation causes more or less random areas of the bird to lose colour.
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Agate
This is a recessive (autosomal) mutation. _x000D_
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Penguin
The Penguin mutation causes all black markings to become white, even though grey and orange areas are left intact.
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Orange Breasted Black Cheeked
The actual results of the combination of Orange Breasted and Black Cheeked is still very much in question. Images of birds where these two mutations have been combined are to be considered ‚guesses‘.
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Light Back Chestnut Flanked White
It is impossible to combine Light Back with Chestnut Flanked White._x000D_ Images of birds with both these mutations show only the Light Back mutation.
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Black Face Fawn
Note that blackfaced fawn females can be difficult to distinguish from fawn females._x000D_ Generally, though, they’re a little bit darker in colour between beak and tear markings_x000D_ and on the belly.
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Black Cheeked Penguin
The results of this combination are surprising to many: Black Cheeked Penguins have White Cheeks!
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Black Face Chestnut Flanked White
This can be a very attractive combination, but only if you have Black Faced birds with very good black markings.
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Black Face Isabel
This combination can be very attractive if the Isabel mutation is in the dark form. In some countries, and here in the Zebra Finch Designer, the Grey Isabel is the dark form, while the Fawn Isabel is the light form.
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Chestnut Flanked White
Chestnut Flanked White (CFW for short) causes the body colour of the bird to lose or almost lose colour.
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Black Breasted Black Face Fawn
Black Breasted Black Face Fawn should have big orange cheeks, and they should be as black on the belly as possible.
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Isabel Fawn
The Fawn Isabel is the light form of Isabel. You should not see any of the usual black markings at all.
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Fawn Cheeked
Fawn Cheeked is a combination of Fawn and (Grey) Cheeked. For beginners they can be difficult to distinguish from Chestnut Flanked White.
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Black Breasted Black Cheeked
This combination has proven to be quite surprising. Unlike regular black cheeked Zebra Finches, females don’t have cheek patches, and unlike regular black breasted Zebra Finches, males don’t have expanded cheeks.
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Black Breasted Orange Breasted Isabel Fawn
This is a very attractive combination where all black has been reduced while orange has been retained.
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Pied Fawn
Combination of Pied and Fawn.
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Black Breasted Light Back
The combination of Black Breasted and Light Back can give quite attractive results.
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Black Face Light Back
A few pictures…
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Charcoal
Charcoal
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Black Front
The Black Front exists only in Australia.
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Grizzle
Grizzle
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Eumo
Eumo