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Caique feather colors changing on wings

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Caique feather colors changing on wings

Postby cooperquinn » Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:20 pm

Hello all, this is my 1st post. I've had my little White Bellied Caique for about 15 years. We bought him when he was still an egg! He has been very healthy or so I thought, very active, glossy feathers, good appetite, etc. Within the past 3 weeks, has started to grow new feathers on his wings that are bright yellow, patches of them, and I can't find any info on why this is happening and I'm getting worried that it might be a symptom of an illness. Could anybody please tell us if they have had a similar experience and what causes it? We are 50 miles from the nearest avian vet but will go if we need to.
cooperquinn
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1
Location: Poulsbo, WA
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Yellow Nape Amazon, Blue Fronted Amazon, White Bellied Caique
Flight: No

Re: Caique feather colors changing on wings

Postby Pajarita » Fri Jul 20, 2018 8:43 am

Hi, and welcome to the forum! Just as an FYI, I have a black-capped caique myself. Now, green feathers that turn yellow happen when the feather loses the structure that gives it a blue color. See, the thing with green feathers is that, in reality, they are not green per se, they are 'tinted' with a yellow pigment but made to look green by having a special structure that reflects only blue light so the combination of the yellow pigment plus the blue-reflecting structure makes them look green [cool, isn't it?}. Ergo, when a green feather turns yellow what happened was that the structure of the feather has been compromised in some way.

I have a male senegal that plucks himself and, whenever he allows a formerly often plucked feather to grow back, it comes out yellow because the frequent plucking damaged the follicle [the root that 'grows' the feather]. Now, which feathers are the ones that are coming out yellow now? The contours, the secondaries or the remiges?
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Caique feather colors changing on wings

Postby Zorro_the_bhc_2015 » Wed Jul 25, 2018 12:29 pm

I've seen yellow on tops of lots of caiques. Seems to be normal.
Zorro_the_bhc_2015
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 48
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Flight: Yes

Re: Caique feather colors changing on wings

Postby Pajarita » Thu Jul 26, 2018 1:02 pm

Yes, yellow is normal on them but not on the wings, those are supposed to be a solid, bright emerald green -at least the contours...
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Caique feather colors changing on wings

Postby Zorro_the_bhc_2015 » Thu Jul 26, 2018 11:25 pm

Pajarita wrote:Yes, yellow is normal on them but not on the wings, those are supposed to be a solid, bright emerald green -at least the contours...

I seen em on tail tips
Zorro_the_bhc_2015
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 48
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Flight: Yes

Re: Caique feather colors changing on wings

Postby Pajarita » Fri Jul 27, 2018 8:44 am

Yes, they do get yellow edges on their rectrices but I think [I am not sure because Javi has been in soft molt until recently so he hasn't had a full molt with me, yet] this is because the integrity of the feather is compromised from the rubbing of the edges against whatever so they 'lose' the blue-reflecting capability and show the yellow color given by a pigment. But the OP was asking about yellow feathers on his bird's wings which are not supposed to have any yellow on them.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Caique feather colors changing on wings

Postby Zorro_the_bhc_2015 » Fri Jul 27, 2018 2:56 pm

Pajarita wrote:Yes, they do get yellow edges on their rectrices but I think [I am not sure because Javi has been in soft molt until recently so he hasn't had a full molt with me, yet] this is because the integrity of the feather is compromised from the rubbing of the edges against whatever so they 'lose' the blue-reflecting capability and show the yellow color given by a pigment. But the OP was asking about yellow feathers on his bird's wings which are not supposed to have any yellow on them.

Yea only vet can tell if IRS fluke or health
Zorro_the_bhc_2015
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 48
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Flight: Yes


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