Recognising Budgie VarietiesI am sure you have noticed that there is a huge array of budgie varieties and colors. We have covered the basic colors on this page so I thought we had better look at the varieties. If you know which variety you are interested in then check if they have their own page on the list below (I will be adding more soon). If you want a general overview of the varieties to start you off then scroll past the list and start reading there.
What is a budgie variety?
Sometimes a mutation occurs that alters the color or pattern of a budgies markings. If this is able to be passed on to chicks it can become a new variety. A variety is separate from a budgies base color. They can occur on any color and are basically overlaid, so you would describe your budgie by its color and its variety. For example a wild budgie would be a light green (the color) normal (the variety), or you may have a skyblue (the color) opaline (the variety).I have thought long and hard about organising the varieties in a way that makes it easy to find the one you want if you don’t know what it is called… This has turned out to be a bit tricky, and will probably not suit everyone, but I have done my best! I have grouped them in the way that they differ from the normal budgie. So we had better start with that... The normal budgie variety
Normal is the term for budgies whose markings match with the
wild type.
The budgie can be any of the basic body colors, but so long as it has the wild type markings it will be of the normal variety. So you can have skyblue normal, grey normal, dark green normal.... etc. The picture to the right shows a dark green normal hen and behind her a skyblue normal hen.
Budgie varieties with different colored wings and markingsThere are several varieties which have markings that are not black.Brown markings: Cinnamon Fallow Lacewing Brownwing Grey to very pale or non-existent markings: Greywing Dilute Clearwing Faded Varieties with different wing and marking patterns:There are a couple of varieties which have marking patterns that are different from normal:Opaline Spangle Blackface Varieties that have pied markingsThere are several types of pieds:Dominant Pied - also known as Australian or Banded Pied Recessive Pied - also known as Danish Pied Clearflight - also known as Dutch Pied Mottled - not an actual pied, but looks like one Varieties with no markings at allThese varieties have the markings and all or most of the body color removed:Inos – albino and lutino Double factor spangle Dark eyed clears None of the above?If none of the above match what you are looking for, try these:Yellow Face/Golden Face Clearbody Crested Anthracite Saddleback Darkwing CompositesFinally, bear in mind that many budgies are a mix of more than one variety, a composite. There are so many combinations I couldn't list them all, such as opaline spangles, yellow faced blue recessive pied, cinnamon opaline clearflight.....So if you are trying to work out what varieties your budgie is I would suggest starting with marking colour, and then work through the other categories adding any other varieties that fit. It may not be the most accurate method but it should give you somewhere to start from! From there looking at pictures may help confirm, or not, your guesses. There is a particularly lovely composite called Rainbow. It is a blue bird with opaline, clearwing and yellow face all present. Return from Budgie Varieties to Budgie-Info.com
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