mutation name order?

[maya_exquisite]

Okay, this is something I'm very curious about and have no clue about except for super simple mutations like DF Dutch Blue, OF Olive, or WF Violet.

But when it comes to mutations that have multiple "factors" and/or splits in it, how do you go about the order in which you say it?? Is there a standard or rule for it all? And is what's in the name only what the bird is VISUAL with or are what the bird is split for added into the name? Like, for example, if a lovebird is whitefaced, dutch blue, has a single dark factor, has a violet factor, and is split to Australian Cinnamon... how would you "name" that?

And as far as double factor and dark factor goes, are they just abbreviated as "SF/DF" for single and double factor and "DF/DDF" double and double dark factor or is the a way to differentiate? I ask because if that's the case, without seeing photos, a person could mistake double (DF) and dark factor (DF), no?

Also, as a side question, when it comes to Am/Aus Cinnamons, what is the indication that a bird may be a (for example) "Seagreen American Cinnamon" or the like? I definitely see there's a color difference between a regular Am. Cinnamon and a Seagreen Am. Cinnamon when viewing photos, but how is it that the person could tell it's a SEAGREEN Am. Cinnamon?

[linda040899]

Maya,
Read through the genetics forum and pay attention to posts by me, keltoth or jamie8672. We use proper mutation name order all the time (or at least we try to) so there are lots of examples within the community.

if a lovebird is whitefaced, dutch blue, has a single dark factor, has a violet factor, and is split to Australian Cinnamon... how would you "name" that?
Cobalt WF Blue Violet/Pallid or Medium WF Blue Violet/Pallid or Cobalt Turquoise Violet/Pallid or Medium Turquoise Violet/Pallid. All are correct. Nomenclature is changing so there can be a number of different ways to express one mutation.

[maya_exquisite]

Okay. Would you be able to answer my other questions?

[bookworm0550]

hey i didnt learn these colors in grade school. no fair. lol

[maya_exquisite]

*sigh* There are so many, many, many posts in the genetics section that I won't be able to go through all of them to find my answer(s)... I'll try and find out from other breeders. Thanks, though. :)

[Kathryn]

Maya,
Linda answered your questions in using your illustration of the
"lovebird that is whitefaced, dutch blue, has a single dark factor, has a violet factor, and is split to Australian Cinnamon"

This was Linda's answer:
Cobalt WF Blue Violet/Pallid
or Medium WF Blue Violet/Pallid
or Cobalt Turquoise Violet/Pallid
or Medium Turquoise Violet/Pallid.

This may help you understand the components of the description:
Cobalt refers to the bird's one dark factor...
Violet means the bird has a single Violet Factor
/Pallid means the bird is / split for Australian Cinnamon now refered to as Pallid

Linda also said:All are correct. (referring to the example)
Nomenclature is changing so there can be a number of different ways to express one mutation.

It has taken me several years of studying genetics to even begin to understand. It is not something you can learn easily overnight.
Read, Read, Reading the way those more versed in genetics have written the description of a particular mutation helps me learn.
Since there is so much difference in the way different countries list the descriptors of the mutations, I have had to focus on trying to learn the American labels. Over the past several years, even these have changed somewhat.
One method I have used is to make a notecard for each basic mutation and then add each new nomenclature I have uncovered in my study. Like in the above example, there were four acceptable ways to describe the same bird.

To help clarify two of your other questions:
1. how is it that the person could tell it's a SEAGREEN Am. Cinnamon
Seagreen has been mentioned many times in the genetics thread.
Click the search engine at the top of the Genetics forum. Type in Seagreen and search (go) This will pull up all the threads on Seagreen. You can read as many or as few of those threads/posts as you want.
(One of the easiest ways to tell if a bird is seagreen is to look at the beak colors. It will be pink at the top near the ceres and changes to horn colored near the tip.)

2. And as far as double factor and dark factor goes, are they just abbreviated as "SF/DF" for single and double factor and "DF/DDF" double and double dark factor or is the a way to differentiate?

For Violet Factors: one violet factor is listed as Violet or SFViolet
And two violet factors would be listed as DVF or Double Violet Factor

With the dark factor, it depends on the ground/base color of the bird (Green Series or Blue series or whether the bird is an Ino or carries the White Face) This is where it gets a little dicey for me but I'll try to give a short version as best I understand it

Medium or Cobalt = Single dark factor on a blue series bird
Dark Pastel, Mauve or Slate = two dark factors on a blue series bird

Medium Green or Jade = one dark factor on a green series bird
Dark Green or Olive or Dark= two dark factors on a green series bird

Other words like Apple, Turquoise, Pastel fit in here too...somewhere.

The combination of Dark factors and Violet factors can create variations of
intensity of color and can fool you. The little nuances of color variance can be affected by lighting. It really takes a trained eye and someone truly experienced in genetics to know what to use in "labeling" or giving a definitive description. Knowing the mutation of the parent birds helps greatly.

If you really want to learn the genetics of our lovebirds then I would recommend two books for you to purchase and study:
The Colored Atlas of Lovebirds by Dr. Alessandro D'Angieri
Lovebirds: Owners Manual and Reference Guide by Dirk Van den Abeele
Both books have very detailed scientific information on the genetics of lovebirds.

I hope this helps...I am nnnooooooo expert and if Linda, Keltoth or jamie8672 want to pipe in here I'd welcome the correction.

[maya_exquisite]

Maya,
Linda answered your questions in using your illustration of the
"lovebird that is whitefaced, dutch blue, has a single dark factor, has a violet factor, and is split to Australian Cinnamon"

This was Linda's answer:Cobalt WF Blue Violet/Pallid
or Medium WF Blue Violet/Pallid
or Cobalt Turquoise Violet/Pallid
or Medium Turquoise Violet/Pallid.

This may help you understand the components of the description:
Cobalt refers to the bird's one dark factor...
Violet means the bird has a single Violet Factor
/Pallid means the bird is / split for Australian Cinnamon now refered to as Pallid

Linda also said:All are correct. (referring to the example)
Nomenclature is changing so there can be a number of different ways to express one mutation.

Yes, I saw her answer for that... I didn't realize she had edited her original post to answer the sample question until later. It's just that I had several questions, which is why I asked if she could answer the other ones that weren't answered, 'cause I thought there would be a specific order or something. Sometimes lovebirds have the longest names that go on for sentences, it seems!! :)


It has taken me several years of studying genetics to even begin to understand. It is not something you can learn easily overnight.
Read, Read, Reading the way those more versed in genetics have written the description of a particular mutation helps me learn.
Since there is so much difference in the way different countries list the descriptors of the mutations, I have had to focus on trying to learn the American labels. Over the past several years, even these have changed somewhat.
One method I have used is to make a notecard for each basic mutation and then add each new nomenclature I have uncovered in my study. Like in the above example, there were four acceptable ways to describe the same bird.

To help clarify two of your other questions:
1. how is it that the person could tell it's a SEAGREEN Am. Cinnamon
Seagreen has been mentioned many times in the genetics thread.
Click the search engine at the top of the Genetics forum. Type in Seagreen and search (go) This will pull up all the threads on Seagreen. You can read as many or as few of those threads/posts as you want.
(One of the easiest ways to tell if a bird is seagreen is to look at the beak colors. It will be pink at the top near the ceres and changes to horn colored near the tip.)

I understand what a regular Seagreen looks like, but I was wondering how people tell that a Cinnamon is also Seagreen... I was using Seagreen Am. Cinnamon as an example because I saw a photo of one online and thought, "What makes this a Seagreen Am. Cinnamon?" You know? Is it just that this particular Am. Cinnamon has the pink-to-horn colored beak?


2. And as far as double factor and dark factor goes, are they just abbreviated as "SF/DF" for single and double factor and "DF/DDF" double and double dark factor or is the a way to differentiate?

For Violet Factors: one violet factor is listed as Violet or SFViolet
And two violet factors would be listed as DVF or Double Violet Factor

With the dark factor, it depends on the ground/base color of the bird (Green Series or Blue series or whether the bird is an Ino or carries the White Face) This is where it gets a little dicey for me but I'll try to give a short version as best I understand it

Medium or Cobalt = Single dark factor on a blue series bird
Dark Pastel, Mauve or Slate = two dark factors on a blue series bird

Medium Green or Jade = one dark factor on a green series bird
Dark Green or Olive or Dark= two dark factors on a green series bird

Other words like Apple, Turquoise, Pastel fit in here too...somewhere.

Oh, I know what dark factors and single/double factors ARE... I was asking if there were any differences in abbreviation. Like if someone just wrote "DF" (without a photo) would this person know whether the poster meant Dark Factor or Double Factor? Or I guess people just tend to write out "dark factor" and "double factor" as to avoid confusion?

I never heard Apple or Pastel, though!! So that's interesting...


The combination of Dark factors and Violet factors can create variations of
intensity of color and can fool you. The little nuances of color variance can be affected by lighting. It really takes a trained eye and someone truly experienced in genetics to know what to use in "labeling" or giving a definitive description. Knowing the mutation of the parent birds helps greatly.

If you really want to learn the genetics of our lovebirds then I would recommend two books for you to purchase and study:
The Colored Atlas of Lovebirds by Dr. Alessandro D'Angieri
Lovebirds: Owners Manual and Reference Guide by Dirk Van den Abeele
Both books have very detailed scientific information on the genetics of lovebirds.

I hope this helps...I am nnnooooooo expert and if Linda, Keltoth or jamie8672 want to pipe in here I'd welcome the correction.

Thanks!! I definitely hope I can get to the point where I can tell between the "little nuances" in the future! It's definitely hard, though, when there aren't good examples to compare on-line. :( I actually The Colored Atlas of Lovebirds almost 10 years ago, but I felt like a dunce reading the genetics section!! I'm just not good at that kind of stuff at all... :rotfl Reading Linda's thread of sex-linked mutations was an easier read and I understood it because she wrote it out like she walk just talking... I wish there were more articles/books that would explain things to people who suck at this genetics thing.

[Baboo's Momma]

Same here, I'm trying to read up & study as much as possible about it. It's very interesting, but most of the time, very confusing as well. I'll start searching threads, what I find online doesn't seem to make much sense to me unfortunatly:(

[linda040899]

The information in our Genetics Forum is actually very good! The one thing you have to remember is that green is dominant over blue. Green series birds can be split for blue series mutations but blue series birds cannot be split for green series mutations.

I learned genetics by living with it. It's much easier when you see the results of the various mutations when they are paired in breeding situations.

[Kathryn]

Maya wrote:
Oh, I know what dark factors and single/double factors ARE... I was asking if there were any differences in abbreviation. Like if someone just wrote "DF" (without a photo) would this person know whether the poster meant Dark Factor or Double Factor? Or I guess people just tend to write out "dark factor" and "double factor" as to avoid confusion?

My response. I have seen these abbreviations used. This seems to eliminate confusion.
DF = Dark Factor
DDF = Double Dark Factor
VF = Violet Factor
DVF= Double Violet Factor

[linda040899]

people just tend to write out "dark factor" and "double factor" as to avoid confusion?

Bingo! That's exactly why I do it! I also use "medium" to indicate single dark factor.