What Is This?

So for the past week or so, I've noticed a weird almost streak of yellow down on one side of Bo's chest.



He's wet here cause he just got a light shower, but you can see the right side of his chest is light yellow. Even when he is dry, the yellow down "pops" through his normal feathers. Does anyone have any idea what this is?

It's what makes him unique! Question though you mean his down feathers or the little feather on HIS left side neck level.

Either way, it's fine....there's random coloration in every bird.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm...

I'm looking forward to Sailboat's ("Mr. Amazon's") thoughts.

Now that he is dry from his morning shower, I got another picture. I think this better shows what I'm talking about. It's not a plucked area, and not all of his down is this color. The rest of his down is normal grey, it's just this area, and just the yellowish down seems super thick and pushes through his feathers to show up.



Gail, I too am hoping Mr. Boats stumbles along to give his two cents.

I didn't want you to be left hanging, to me just looks like random coloration. Clark has little random feather colors here and there and I love them. I could find him by smell or appearance even in a flock of GCCs.

What you are likely seeing could be a combination of a couple of sources. But, downy feathers are commonly white, light gray, or gray in color. Yellow is not a common downy feather color.

- White downy feathers tend to reflect color. Check whether body feathers in the area have a yellow tint to them
- It is possible that your Amazon is pushing a light yellow tint to its downy feathers.
- Young Amazons /Parrots can push some odd colors from time to time.
- Check the skin coloration. Parrots tend to have a clear to cloudy white tone to their shin with a light pink in some areas.
- It is also possible that your Amazon 'may' have a Liver condition.

Added Comment: The feathers look more like body feathers not downy feathers. More likely young Amazon thing.

FYI: I'm an Amazon Snob, not an expert. The more I learn about Amazons and Parrots, the more I find that I don't know!

I, too am curious what it is! Either way he seems to be a happy birb!

Genenetic coloration? Do you know who the parents are?

YNA The N stands for Nape, correct? Nape is the back of neck, Correct? You have a YFA lol..

Not sure if this helps.

Biceps said:

Hello everyone,
i just want to know what do you think about this female? someone offer me this bird, how much dose she worth?

Click to expand...

One of the difficulties with Young Amazons is their ability to push color in different places and different colors from normal Adult Coloration of the Species. This is most true with Amazons with a larger number of sub-species, example: Blue-Fronted Amazons.

In addition, in both their natural range (especially in large overlapping ranges) they can mate with other Amazons that will result in wide variation is coloration. Add to this 'Genenetic Coloration' affect by Humans and one sees: Blue Amazons (near all blue), Yellow Dominate Blue-Fronted Amazons, Yellow Dominate Yellow-Naped Amazons, etc...

Nominates are the foundation of species identification. The process of determining, which species one has is comparing an Amazon to the nominate. This process requires setting a value (a count) of the number of matches to the nominate. The greater the number of matches the more likely one's Amazon is this species and not that species.

Great explanation Sailboat. It makes a lot of sense now. And seeing that picture of that amazon Discoduck posted with all that yellow, wow!! I just love how different they look. Just like there are turquoise eclectus out there, there are also blue - yellow naped amazons that leave me breathless.

Just wow!



As I've posted previously, if I ever made it big (lottery? book deal?) I am filling my house with all the beautiful mutations out there. They're crazy cool.

hahahah mug shots!

I've seen one of these blue factor YNA in person, very very striking, and they have a white splotch on the nape. 'Boats, as usual, nails it. Salty when wet has a bright orange splotch on his forehead by the nares. When he is dry, you cant see it.

For anyone who was wondering about the weird feathers I asked about on Bo, I figured it out. That was him molting, and it got even worse before it got better. He is starting to look good now, and it getting so much more yellow! I'm surprised at how much yellow he's getting down into his chest. Now I can't wait for his next molt to see how much he changes next time!

Before:



After: