I have to admit that I am addicted to the different color mutations of the peachface lovebird.  There are so many different color mutations, that one never gets bored of trying to learn them all.  I'm still learning as much as possible, and it seems that all I ever do is read up on the different color mutations, anytime I get a chance.  When ever I think I have a grasp on this, along comes another color combination, and I have to go figure out what it is. 

There are two color series of the peachface, the green series and the par-blue series.  The green series, which is also known as the wild type, is the original bird that was wild caught in Africa. In the wild you wouldn't find all these color mutations, because it wouldn't be beneficial to the birds survival. Since these birds have been in captivity, breeders world wide have bred for the different color mutations and it seems like there is always a new mutation that keeps popping up.  There are four basic color mutations the Green (wild type, Normal green), and then the three in the par-blue series, Aqua (Blue, Dutch Blue, Pastel), Turquoise (Whiteface blue, whiteface), and the AquaTurquoise (seagreen, apple green, seafoam, mint).

The Aqua (Dutch blue) isn't really a blue bird, it is a green bird with a bluish tint to it.  It took me a little while to understand in lovebirds that just because it has the color blue in the color description does not mean that it is the actual color of the bird.  In peachface lovebirds it is a combination of all the different body parts that determine the color description of the bird.

Normal Green Peachface	Aqua Peachface
AquaTurquoise Peachface	Turquoise Peachface

The green series are the lovebirds that have the entire peach color on their faces.  The Aqua (Dutch Blue) have the creamy white face and a horn colored beak, with a cantaloupe forehead. The (Turquoise) White Face looks very similar to the Aqua's (Dutch Blue) except the face is much cleaner looking, with a lighter creamy color on the forehead, the beak is a lighter color with a pinkish tint.  The white face also has a bluer looking tint to it when in the light.  The AquaTurquoise (Seagreen) is a combination of the Aqua (Dutch Blue) and the Turquoise (White Face), so you would get a color in between the Aqua (Dutch Blue) and the Turquoise (White Face). Also the beak will be a two tone color, with the pinkish shade on the top and a horn color on the bottom.  I have noticed that many people that are breeding the peachfaces, still have some issues with determining the difference between the Aqua (Dutch Blue) and the AquaTurquoise  (Seagreen).  Unless you have the different color mutations together to compare these two colors, it has been my experience that it is very easy to get the colors confused. If you learn to look over the beak as well as the coloration of the feathers, it becomes a little easier.

Now starting with the 4 basic forms - you have different factors that will change the basic appearance of the bird. For example, you have the dark factors, the violet factors, the pied factors, the orangeface, the opaline, the ino, the cinnamon, the pallid, the fallow and I'm sure there are a few that I have left out.  With all of these different factors to combine, you can come up with so many different color mixtures.  Even when you combine the different factors, you have the phenotype (the visual appearance), and the genotypes (which genes the birds carry) to try and figure out.  It is easier to figure out the phenotype, but the genotype can get a little tricky since there are sex linked genes, and the birds can be split to some of the sex linked genes as well as some of the recessive genes....(split to means the bird carries the genes, but you can not see the color on the birds)

If you get your bird from a breeder, and they tell you that you have a bird that is split to something or other, this means you can not see the factor that the bird carries on it's genes, but because of the way the parents are paired together, they pass on a gene that will allow their offspring to produce the color mutation of the split factor when paired with the right mate.  For example  I have a pair where the father is a SF violet DD Aqua /Pallid/Cinnamon (dutch blue double dark (mauve) violet/split to Australian Cinnamon/split to American Cinnamon) ...and the mother is a Aqua ino (dutch blue creamino) which gives me a yellow bird with a white face, and orange forehead. This pair will never give me any ino (creamino) babies, but I can end up with Pallids (Australian Cinnamons), Cinnamons (American Cinnamon) baby girls, and the boys can carry the genes and be split to one of the sex linked genes. I will also have all of the males carrying the ino gene, but will not produce any ino babies.  Now if I take one of the male offspring and pair it up with a female ino, then this new pair will produce both male and female creamino's, or if I pair him up with a green female then I will not get any creamino's but I will get a couple of lutino's (yellow babies with a peach face).  Creamino's are the blue series ino, while the Lutino is the green series ino.

Any breeder that is into the different color mutations of the Peachfaces, will work very hard at combining the right birds to produce the many beautiful color combinations, and because it takes a long time to figure out what to pair what with, the prices of the different color mutations will cost you different prices.  The harder to reproduce the mutation, or the newer the mutation, the more expensive the price. 

There are many other color mutations out there  I have just listed only a small handful of them, because when you start adding the other factors to the mutations, you add the description to the type. Example if we add the violet factors to the colorations we could get the df violet turquoise (white face violet), the sf violet aqua (dutch blue single factor violet), the violet pied, df violet D Aqua, (Cobalt violet) and so on.....

To add to the confusion, depending on who you talk too, will determine the description that will be used.  For instance I bought Queenie, who is a white face pied pallid single factor violet, but to make the name much shorter the person I purchased the bird from just called her an Isabella.  When I went to one of my lovebird groups to get it figured out, I came to find out some knew of the term Isabella, while there were others that did not....so when you stay with the color mutations of Lovebirds, there is always something to learn. There are color mutation nomenclatures that are set up in the different places around the world with a "Standard" Name, But even the different Breeding Societies can not come to an agreement of what to call different mutations.  Hopefully we breeders can come together and educate each other, and come up with a "Universal Standard" so that this confusing addiction of mine can become a little less confusing for the lovebird owner and future breeders.

If you really wish to understand all of the complexities of lovebird mutations I recommend The Colored Atlas of Lovebirds by Dr. Alessandro D'Angieri. This book is a little dated, but it is a good start.  There is another book that is a little more up to date A Guide to ... Colour Mutations & Genetics in Parrots by Dr Terry Martin BVSc.  but like it states it is about all Parrot mutations, not only the peachface lovebirds. Lovebirds Owners manual and reference guide by Dirk Van Abeele which just came out and right now I think you can only get it from over seas, but will worth getting and has wonderful pictures showing all the different color mutations.  Or you can be like many others and leave the color mutations to us breeders, and just pick out that special lovebird that has those beautiful colors that would be right for you.