[Yellow Empress]

So I was told this baby is a white faced pearl. It’s 9-10 weeks old, newly weaned. I brought this pretty bird home today and don’t know anything about pearl or pied coloration. The brown spot on the head was for identification purposes and will fade.

 

[Frogette]

Whiteface pearl indeed! A pied would be yellow with bright orange cheeks and a light yellow body with grey patches

 

[tielfan]

Whiteface pearl pied - the whole head is covered with pied feathers, and I can see pied wing feathers and tail feathers too. The pied mutation only affects the grey pigment. A pied bird that is not whiteface will have some yellow and orange feathers, but a whiteface pied won't have these colors because it can't produce yellow and red pigments.

 

[Yellow Empress]

Whiteface pearl pied - the whole head is covered with pied feathers, and I can see pied wing feathers and tail feathers too. The pied mutation only affects the grey pigment. A pied bird that is not whiteface will have some yellow and orange feathers, but a whiteface pied won't have these colors because it can't produce yellow and red pigments.

Thanks for responding @tielfan The bird does have some very light greyish coloration on the cheeks and near the eyes. It seems the grey is almost a very pale grayish tan. So I’m wondering, would this baby be considered a cinnamon pearl pied? And if it’s a male does that mean it will probably change its coloration after a couple of molts? There are so many variations.

 

[tielfan]

Cinnamon is possible but I'm not sure. Pied birds often have pale grey coloring coloring on the chest and other areas just simply because they don't have as many melanin-producing cells in these areas and/or the presence of a lot of white feathers behind the grey makes the grey look washed out. Looking at the grey on the wings is often helpful, but your bird has pearl markings there which once again makes it hard to tell. In general the grey on the wings looks cinnamon-y, but there are some areas that look darker.

 

[Tx tielfan]

That is a very beautiful bird you have there! I have a weakness for all whiteface mutations. I have a whiteface pied male named Buzz and a female cinnamon pearl named Auzzie.