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   ‘Although well intended research geneticists’ commit themselves to practice an exact science -  
     in the grand scheme of things - Mother Nature has a habit of throwing a spanner in the works’
Feb. 9, 2010

The genotype is the genetic constitution of a cell, an organism, or an individual - i.e. the specific allele makeup
of the individual - usually with reference to a specific character under consideration.
                    So what does all this puzzling jargon mean you may ask with befuddled head?
Well all this informative spiel just means that our Hetero Spread cock will produce young in the nest
which may be either Black or Blue phenotypes – it doesn’t mean the color ratio of all progeny to be
realized by this pigeon will be evenly reproduced i.e. one Black & one Blue, for the emerging pair
 of squeakers may both be Black or Blue or one of each color. If we wanted to ensure the pair of squeakers
 in the nest was a pair of Black phenotypes and none were Blue, this is where Homozygous takes
centre stage and enables the breeder to theoretically realize a 100% of color & pattern reproduction.
 A Homo Spread cock would be necessary as it would carry two genetic traits for Spread (Black).
Definition of Diploid: Containing two copies of each gene - and in this instance: a diploid gene pair having identical alleles
 in both copies - for example, AA and aa - i.e. Two Dominant & Two recessive traits for Spread.
Homozygous refers to having identical alleles for a single trait – so if we were to mate only Homozygous
Blacks x Homozygous Blacks – ensuring an absence of  infidelity among our flock
- one should expect to realize 100% Solid Black or genetically pure for Black young in each and every nest.
 I trust I have been of some help in this regard.                                                                     
                                                                                                          
                                                   
                                                                           
Manny Arquette
21st September 2009
After a barrage of impassioned emails from enthusiastic Budgerigar fanciers worldwide, who stumbled across our
avian website and enquired as to why we have a highly informative site documenting pigeons and only a measly
couple of photos exhibiting the  popular Aussie Budgie? Well folks, after a great deal of deliberation by the A.A.R.O
committee, it has been decided to go the extra mile by including a selection of  the most interesting of historical
facts, articles and photos with regards to Melopsittacus Undulatus.
In The Beginning
Gregor Johann Mendel (
                                             (July 20, 1822 – January 6, 1884) was an Austrian Augustinian priest and scientist often
called the "father of modern genetics" for his study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants. Mendel showed that
the inheritance of traits follows particular laws, which were later named after him. The significance of Mendel's
work was not recognised until the turn of the 20th century. Its rediscovery prompted the foundation of genetics.
GgGregor Johann Mendel                   
Biography

                       Dominant and recessive phenotypes.
(1) Parental generation. (2) F1 generation. (3) F2 generation.
Portraying Mendel and Darwin
Young Budgerigars are similar to the adult birds, but are duller and have a dark brown eye (which is white or yellow in adults).
and saltbush. Seeds are mostly eaten from the ground and the bulk of drinking and feeding activity is in the morning.
It is sometimes difficult for someone starting out in the hobby to identify the various colors
           Distribution map of
                wild Budgerigar
that make up the many varieties of the Australian budgerigar. I trust that the descriptive
information will be of assistance and guide the novice breeder in the right direction.
The original budgerigars (Bush Budgerigar) that were captured from their Australian habitat and exported overseas were commonly known as Light Green birds.
Green Budgerigar (wild-type): It is well known that with Green being the original color, it is Dominant to all color
varieties; you can get Green birds split for Blue, but you cannot get Blue, split for Green. It is not possible to have any
eed Blue series birds. Blue birds come in three different
bird masking Green i.e. in split form, Green must be visible. Green budgerigars come in three colors: Light Green,
Dark Green and Olive Green. In each color variation there is a darker shade than the previous one; green series birds
have within their genetic makeup (Genotype) the ability to br
shades, firstly you have Sky-blue, secondly a dark blue known as Cobalt, and a darker shade of blue called Mauve.
Blue budgerigars mated together cannot produce a Green offspring. However, if you pair a Blue and a Green
together,  
it is possible to breed Blue birds and Green birds.
of all colour pigment. They are yellow instead of green, white instead of blue, and have red eyes in place
birds are known as: Sex-linked, and the females can never be split for Lutino or Albino,
or Albino, as well as Green split for Lutino, or Blue split for Albino.
breed Lutino hens, but to pair a Lutino hen to a Green cock,
only ever breed Green offspring; cocks being split Lutino.  
Greywing: These birds appear in all the normal colors so far mentioned. They have a suffused body colouring and the wing markings are a pastel shade of grey on either a yellow or white background, depending whether they are yellow or white.
of black eyes. Red-eyed
whereas the cocks can be either Lutino
You can have a Green cock bird split for Lutino and
you will
the
Breeding Crests by Manny Arquette
The key to constantly produce a higher visual ratio of Crests lies in the following breeding methodology:  
 a suitable number of matings has to be undertaken in order to identify which of the Crests is carrying the
highest concentration of Expressivity; this time-consuming analysis is arrived at by observing the nests
that produce the highest number of Visual Crests over an extensive breeding program.

Global Decline in Membership
My Thoughts & Solutions
To aspire to some miraculous solution in turning back the clock
Innovative Ideas by the Truckload
                    Hooded Crest bred by yours truly - a new Crest mutation, in addition to the 3 existing Crest-types
Greywing Grey-Green
Greywing Grey
Lacewing Yellow
Lutino
Albino
Yellowface Skyblue in majestic flight
Feather Dusters – A Genetic Anomaly
Australian Bush Budgerigars  
Blackface
Inte Onsman of Mutavi
Hooded Crest Mutation
Collective Budgerigar genetics & Time line
Budgerigar colour genetics deals with the heredity of colour variation in the feathers of the species known as Melopsittacus Undulatus - commonly known as the budgerigar or parakeet (American)..
Classification of mutations






Each of the thirty-two primary mutations belongs to one of the four basic groups of mutations classified in parrot species genetics.

These mutations are inherited through one of the following dominance relationships.
· Albinism : where eumelanin is reduced in all body tissues, either partially or fully.
· Dilutism : where eumelanin is partially reduced in the feathers.
· Leucism : where all pigmentation is reduced in the feathers.
   · Melanism : where eumelanin is increased in the feathers.

· autosomal-Co-Dominant (A-Co-D),
· autosomal-Complete-Dominant (A-C-D),
· autosomal-Incomplete-Dominant (A-I-D),
· autosomal-recessive (A-R),
· autosomal-Polygenic (A-P-G)
· Sex-Linked-recessive (S-L)
Time line: 1870-75 - the very first registered sudden captive-bred colour mutations were
Green Suffused (Dilute Green), Green Greywings and either one of the two types of Lutino
(NSL-Ino &/or SL-Ino) mutations. All three occurred in aviaries in Great Britain or Europe.
Of these three mutations, only the Suffused Green (Dilute Yellow) has survived.
This was easily reproduced in great numbers and is nowadays very well established.
The first Lutino mutation quickly vanished but it was re-established in Europe sometime
between 1931 and 1933.
· 1920
o Crest-Factor in Australia.
o Suffused Blue (Dilute White) in England and France.
o Simple Dark Blue (Cobalt) in France.
· 1921 Double Dark Blue (Mauve) in France.
· 1930
o Simple Violet-Green (Violet Factor) in Australia.
             The first Clearwing appeared, developed by H. Pier in Sydney
· 1934 Recessive Grey Factor in England.
· 1935 The Yellow Faced Blue and Golden Face Blue occurred in several locations.
· 1939-46 Clear-Flight Dutch Pied in Belgium.
grass
A metaphase cell positive for the bcr/abl rearrangement using FISH
ThtHE only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus, is a small parrot belonging to the tribe of the
The  
broad-tailed parrots (Platycercini); these are sometimes considered a subfamily (Platycercinae).
In the latter case, the budgerigar is sometimes isolated in a tribe of its own, the Melopsittacini, although
it is probably quite closely related to Pezoporus and Neophema. Though budgerigars are often called
parakeets, especially in American English, this term refers to any of a number of small parrots with
long flat tails.
The budgerigar is found throughout the drier parts of Australia and has survived
in the inlands of that continent for over 5 million years. At least three possible origins for the English
name budgerigar have been proposed:
A compound of budgery, "good" and gar "cockatoo". Budgerigar means "good eating" or "good food"
in some Australian Aboriginal languages. This is supported by the Oxford English Dictionary. The word
budgery itself, also spelt boojery, was formerly in use in Australian English slang meaning "good".
An alteration of Gamilaraay gidjirrigaa (IPA: /ɡiɟiriɡaː/), possibly influenced by the slang word budgery
The genus name Melopsittacus comes from Greek and means "melodious parrot". The species name undulatus is Latin for "undulated" or "wave-patterned".
Eye Candy
Young Face of Japan 2010
Manny Arquette
Drunk as a Skunk
Heart Pumpin’ Honeys
Birds of a Feather
Wacky Wild Wicked & Wonderful Fotoz
  Warning!!!
   Not to be
  viewed by
   those with a
    bad Ticker!
 Warning!!!
   Not to be
  viewed by
   those with a
    bad Ticker!
Hauntingly  Beautiful Faces
Peculiar Pigeons
Naughty But Nice
Elastic Fantastic
Simply Bizarre
Sizzling Eye Poppers!
Christmas Delights
Christmas Delights
Military Might
Heart Pumpin’ Honeys
I hope you enjoyed the absolutely amazing
                 photographic experience