Galah head colour

[Jayyj]

I've noticed looking at numerous images of galahs that some have snow white heads and others are light pink - I've read a few things suggesting that it relates to gender and I know there are three subspecies of galah that would be expected to have small differences in appearance, but can't find anything approaching a definitive answer: anyone have any idea?

 

[Betrisher]

Nope. But I'd love to know if you ever find out!

 

[getwozzy]

I hope this is what you're looking for... Or at least a start? It talks about the 3 subspecies and the different color variations. I don't remember reading anything pertaining to if the colors relate to gender though...

http://www.birdtricks.com/blog/the-dark-morph-galah/

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Lol, that bird tricks post is a response to my question. From the first 6 months I had Rosie and before I realized her super dark color was from being unhealthy.

The western morph has the darkest, and largest, crest and a white eye ring, is very beautiful. The eastern morph tends to have a whiter crest with a red eye ring(in males who get enough sun) Westerns are very rare the United States.



Some people speculate that male birds are slightly darker, but few people say this and it's not thought to be accurate.

 

[Jayyj]

Perfect - thank you! So Alice fits the Western subspecies, with a pink crest, grey eye ring, slender build and much lighter on the rump than the wings. Most of her crest feathers are actually pink with a 2mm lighter tip, only the top few being entirely the lighter colour.

I'd actually heard someone say pure white crests were indicative of a male, so I guess we can discount the gender thing as speculation. The subspecies differences seem a much clearer distinction.

 

[getwozzy]

Lol, that bird tricks post is a response to my question. From the first 6 months I had Rosie and before I realized her super dark color was from being unhealthy.

LOL! When I read the beginning I thought hmmmm that sounds like Ashley's "Rosie"! Haha

Rosie's pink is SO much more intense than any other galah I've seen! Chili is a very light dusty pink...but she hasn't even gone through her first molt yet.

 

[getwozzy]

I'd actually heard someone say pure white crests were indicative of a male, so I guess we can discount the gender thing as speculation. The subspecies differences seem a much clearer distinction.

I really do wonder if there's some sort of pattern male vs female...but galahs are monomorphic with the irises being the only indication of gender- but we all know that's not an accurate way either lol

 

[Jayyj]

Out of interest, there were a few galahs in the local bird shop when I called in for bits and pieces today, that have the darker crests, but also their chests were nowhere near as pink as most, more like a salmon colour with pink in the middle of each feather fading to grey at the edges. They're young birds - the sign on the cage says 12 weeks, but then the same three were there when I last visited two months ago so I'm taking that with a pinch of salt - certainly not up to their first moult though. They were real bruisers too, built more like a small headed LSC than my dainty little lady. They had a fourth that was more or less identical to Alice in plumage, although again much heavier.

Last time I saw them I assumed it was juvenile plumage, but then we've had some galah babies on the forum recently that have bright pink chests, so now I'm thinking these might be a dark morph?

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Alice looks like the normal eastern to me, they're the sub species most commonly found outside of Australia. Any other sun species has probably been cross bred and lost any genetic significants. Keep in mind all sub species will have variation, not all eastern will have a light crest.

The western galahs are very distinctive. The crest ends very smoothly, and the color almost wraps around their cheek feathers. Also any galah that doesn't get enough sun will have a grey eye ring, they need hours of sun daily to get a prominent ring, and females may never get it. I'll get on my computer and post a few images to show you

I bieve Rosie is a eastern galah, she has a few spots of red on her eye ring. The other (recognised)sub species is the northern, the Khuli, which is the smallest, and also has a small crest.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Lol, that bird tricks post is a response to my question. From the first 6 months I had Rosie and before I realized her super dark color was from being unhealthy.

LOL! When I read the beginning I thought hmmmm that sounds like Ashley's "Rosie"! Haha

Rosie's pink is SO much more intense than any other galah I've seen! Chili is a very light dusty pink...but she hasn't even gone through her first molt yet.

I knew very little about parrots, crazy how much I learned since the haha.

I've seen images of dark galahs, who passed it on genetically. So that dark morph does exist, but is very rare. Rosie's molted her super dark feathers(she used to be red!) but I don't know if she's going to get lighter or not. As of right now whenever she looses a feather it comes in the same, not lighter or darker. I wish I knew of a 100% healthy galah locally I could photograh her with, I have a comparison photo from when she was sick but she's much lighter now.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

I made you a thread on the different sub species

http://www.parrotforums.com/cockatoos/38796-galah-sub-species.html#post335468