Blue Mutation

You are here because you heard the possibility of a blue caique, and didn’t think it could be true. Honestly, I wasn’t sure at first, myself. I thought it was an elaborate Internet hoax. But, with some interesting updates that have happened over a period of time, we are beginning to see the reality of this bird.

8/2/08 – A thread was posted on the forum about the possibility of a blue caique, with a reference to a yahoo group that had a picture posted of the bird. That thread can be viewed here

8/5/08 Emily posted a blog entry regarding the blue caique, questioning its validity. John McMichael of thecaiquesite.com responds to the post, saying “I think this blue caique is real. If there is a mutation that blocks the expression of the yellow pigment, this is exactly what you would expect. The residual yellow pigment on the nape may be due to a different pigment–the one that fluoresces in black-light. The blue color comes from the feather’s structure on a background of black melanin and its black head means it is still expressing the melanin gene. Does anyone know where this picture originated?”

9/1/08 – Emily joins the aforementioned yahoo! group and sends an email to the originator of the picture. The originator of the picture refuses to reveal any more information about the bird at this time. At this point, the validity of this bird cannot be confirmed nor denied

10/7/08- Emily again posts on the blog about the disappoint regarding not being able to gain anymore information on the blue caique mutation and once again questions its authenticity. She also encourages people to share information they have, because aviculture is nothing if people hoard their nuggets of knowledge.

10/9/08 – A user going by the name of Red Cap, living in Australia, responds to the post about the blue caique and posts some interesting photos of the chick during the handfeeding stage. The poster also verifies that the caique is indeed a pallid, but is withholding any further information about the bird, its origin, or other such relevant knowledge until a later date. Emily has requested a copy of the information as soon as it becomes available to the public.

5/10/2010 – More then two years later after the surfacing of these blue caique photos, Emily was contacted by a breeder in Panama claiming to have successfully bred a blue mutation pallid caique. Upon request, the breeder forwarded exclusive photos of the bird, along with information. According to the breeder, the mutation has been paired with a normal pallid and successfully hatched its first clutch of babies. Whether or not any of the chicks will outwardly show this mutation as well is to be determined.

11/16/2010 – The blue and normal pallid pair have successfully reared a clutch of normal colored chicks. The parents are reported as being interested in the nest box, so we are hoping they will lay again. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for this blue gene to show itself in another one of the offspring. More pictures of this blue bird are being provided by the breeder shortly.

4/17/2011 – A blue mutation caique was auctioned off in Australia. The winning bid was for $20,000. Reportedly the bird came from ‘two split’ parents, and was an unexpected surprise from the breeder. Photos of the chick were posted, and will be revealed at a later date. This blue chick was said to be a black headed caique, and interestingly the photos of the bird showed that its cagemate was a nominate race black headed caique – not a pallid like the other confirmed blue! I have been attempting to make contact with the breeder to ask if this bird is of the pallid subspecies. In another surprise twist, this baby blue that was auctioned off was not from the same breeder that reportedly posted the original blue photo, showcased on this page. So, that makes three separate instances of this bird being successfully bred! Two of the birds are in Australia, and another is in Panama. Two of these mutations have appeared in pallid caiques, and whether or not the blue chick is a pallid has yet to be confirmed.

The following photos were posted originally at the Caique Crazy Blog. Check out the mutation gallery for more exclusive photos.

More images to become available as they are released

We will continue to add to this page as more information becomes available.