masked slate?

[maya_exquisite]

Hi hi!! Does anyone on this forum have masked slates? I just made a pair of black and white earrings and it just made me think of them... I actually had a baby one for a few hours back in college. I say a few hours because what happened was my then-fiance called me while I was in school to tell me my baby pied had passed. I balled my eyes out in school - luckily I had a few hours break so I could let it all out!! So when my then-fiance came to pick me up from school, he handed me a baby masked slate that he went to pick up from the breeder we had previously gone to in Kaneohe. It did brighten up my day, but unfortunately at that time I had my heart set on my next baby being a double factor violet. So he drove me to Kaneohe and we exchanged. I wish I could've kept both of them, because that pure black and white lovie was so gorgeous, but we didn't have the money for it at the time...

Anyway, if anyone has pix I'd love to see them because I'm in full reminisce mode!! Also, are they common and are they actually black and white or is the "black" a really, really, really, really dark blue that looks black to the eye? I never, ever see them at pet stores... but if I did, I think I'd have to snatch it up!!

[maya_exquisite]

Aw, gorgeous!! They remind me of a newspaper too. Hehe.

[Eliza]

Dani has a slate (aka mauve or double dark) masked lovebird, Haku.

I *almost* brought home a slate masked lovie the summer before last. Beetle's breeder had a clutch of 6 masked lovebirds: two cobalts, two slates and two slate dilutes. In hindsight, I kind of wish that I did get that little masked boy... I had thought about naming him Cricket, which would be fitting, don't you think?

They aren't ask common as the blue mutation masked lovebird but they do pop up in stores from time to time.

Anyhoodle, here's my favorite pic of a slate masked lovebird: http://mysterypicklesparrots.com/Masked%20-%20Slate.jpg

It's a really lovely mutation!

-e-

[LauraO]

I have a slate masked lovie named Olive but I don't have any current pictures. She's a weird bird:confused:. Beautiful but weird:confused:. For years, she pined after one of our meyer's parrots and would follow him every second of the day. Luckily, it was our friendly meyer's so he just ignored her. Anyway, Olive loved Cookie and hated all lovebirds until two months ago. Olive is now in love with our crazy creamino Cuddlebunny since she lost her mate Birdy Boots earlier in the year :omg:. Yep! I have a peachface creamino who is in love and shackin' up with a slate masked lovie:omg:. I've seen a lot of weird pairs but two female lovies who are two different species and opposite colors, and both very demanding and domineering who don't really get along with anybirdy else. I am shocked! The weirdest thing is Olive has always hated the bird room and cages, but now spends all her waking hours in the birdroom and lives in Cuddlebunny's cage.

I wouldn't suggest this pairing for anyone! We've had birds for ten years and we've had both of these birds since they were babies and we know them well. We have a bird room/aviary where the birds interact and pick their own friends. So this is something they've chosen to do, and something we were cautious of at first.

Be careful about getting masked, especially slate masks, in Hawaii. They are not easy to get and there is ALOT of inbreeding going on. We got Olive in Hawaii and she's had health and behavior issues her whole life, which both my vet and I really believe has to do with too much inbreeding.

[dani]

My Haku is a slate masked, and he is all gorgeous shiny white, silvery and black on his best days. He is absolutely beautiful, and is always in perfect shiny feathering somehow, my hair should be so lucky....lately he is doing this thing where he will crawl to the uppermost corner of his cage and literally glare at me until i am intimidated... not even my macaw does it quite so well as haku!

There are several pictures of him in this album:
http://dboodoofortune.shutterfly.com/