Many budgerigar colors are available to choose from and you can choose your desired color depending upon your own preference. Naturally, the wild budgerigars are green and yellow in coloration. But due to the high interest in these birds, developers have developed numerous colors.
Today, there are numerous budgerigar colors available. Common colors such as albino, blue, cinnamon, clearwinged, the various fallows, violet, suffused, spangled, opaline, olive, lutino, mauve, greywing, greygreen, and grey are the result of mutations that have occurred within specific genes.
Currently, there are actually at least 32 known primary color mutations established among the budgerigars. And these color mutations can combine to form hundreds of secondary mutations and color varieties which may or may not be stable.
Parakeet/Budgerigar Color Types
Most of the budgerigar breeders generally classify their birds according to color and variety. The color describes the general plumage of the budgerigar, and the variety refers to the pattern and/or color of its markings. There are actually two sets of colors that distinguish the two broad groupings of budgerigar, green/yellow and blue/white. The underlying hue of your budgerigar is most visible on the mask. Mask is the area of the face between crown and throat.
The wild ancestral budgerigars sport a full coat of green-yellow plumage, and this combination is very common in pet budgerigars, and also the blue/white combination. But the blue/white combination can come in many shades varying from grey to cobalt.
Different Types of Budgerigars/Parakeets
Today, there are more than 30 recognized color combinations available among the domestic budgerigars. These birds have selectively been bred to produce many vibrant new colors. Breeders can isolate a budgerigar with a color mutation and breed it with similarly colored birds to create a flock of that particular type.
Parakeet/Budgerigar Colors
Today, there are actually many color variations are available in pet budgerigars. And all of these varieties are based on a basic color palette of yellow and blue pigments. But blue mixed with yellow results in green, and it is the dominant color of wild budgerigars.
However, in many domestic budgerigar varieties, the yellow pigment is absent and the blue shows through a white base. Red pigmentation is not available in your pet budgerigar, and pinky pigmentation is rare. Like all other animal species, budgerigars can also be born without the usual pigmentation in them, resulting in albinos.
Mutations
Numerous color mutations available nowadays. Here are some mutations:
Coloration Mutations
- Yellow or white base color
- Dark factor
- Violet factor
- Grey factor
- Lutino/albino
- Yellowface
- Dilute, greywing, and clearwing
Striping Mutations
- Opaline
- Spangle
- Cinnamon
Pied Mutations
- Dominant pied
- Recessive pied
- Clearflight pied
- Dark-eyed clear
Rare Mutations
- Crested budgie/hagoromo
