THE SPANGLE
by John Mulley
Surprisingly, no new budgerigar mutations have appeared since the spangle around about 1974 and the saddleback in 1975. Spangles were first bred in Victoria from stock of colony bred origin, so their ancestry has not been clearly established. This mutation is characterised by the shell feathers on the wings and it took its name from a similar (or perhaps the same) mutation already known in poultry. I remember seeing spangles among my grandfather's bantams back in the late 1950's. Since 1974 the spangle budgerigar has undergone rapid improvement through outcrossing to quality normals and it is now competitive on the showbench with the best normals, opalines and cinnamons. This seems to have occurred at the expense of the sharp spangle wing markings that were apparently so striking when the mutation first appeared.The spangle mutation is often referred to as a dominant, but this is not the case. There are three discrete phenotypes depending on the presence in a budgerigar of none, one or two spangle genes. This mutation is, in fact, partially(or semi) dominant since the single factor and double factor expressions fo the gene are very different. Differences between single factor and double factor experession also exist for the dominant pied, English yellow face and Australian yellowface mutations, but descriptions of these are best left until those varieties are discussed at a later date.
The standard for the spangle (single factor) describes a fine black marking near (not at) the edge of each wing covert and flight feather. The black marking on the covert is in the same position as in the normal, but narrower, and the edging, which is grey in normals, is white in the spangle. The fine black marking is absent in opaline spangles which have a beautiful marbled effect on their wings. It is barely visible as a soft brown marking in cinnamon spangles (birds which, at a distance, resemble clearwings). Hence the opaline and cinnamon variations of the spangle (single factor) score poorly for markings which represent 15% of the score when judged. Nevertheless, these spangle variations are visually appealing to anyone not fixated on the exhibition budgerigar.
Selection of modifiers to enhance wing markings in the normal spangle could be achieved in three ways. One way would be by crossing the better marked spangles with normals that have been bred from well marked spangles. The second way would be by intercrossing two well marked spangles to achieve the same aim (as well as giving us a few double factor spangles). Finally, the double factor spangles produced from two well marked spangle parents can be crossed to normals bred from well marked spangles, or to an outcross. All offspring would be spangles, hence this represents the most efficient use of an outcross to the spangle line.
The effect of the spangle gene is to reduce the amount of melanin. The original spangles had clear centred target shaped spots due to partial loss of melanin, but such spots are rarely seen nowadays. Loss of melanin usually manifests these days as crescent shaped spots. Perhaps outcrossing to birds with large round spots could help restore the target shaped spots? One bad fault in spangles due to reduced melanin is patchy body colour on the rump. Perhaps this could be reduced by avoidance of such birds in the breeding programme for single factor spangles; however, they would probably be useful outcrosses for double factor spangles, depending upon their other attributes, since double factor spangles need only exhibit ground colour.
One statement I remember reading in relation to spangles is that the quality of normals is enhanced by breeding through a spangle. There is no genetic basis for this, so I would suggest that this is yet another of the many myths associated with the breeding of budgerigars. A spangle would only improve type in normals if the spangle was a better bird in the first place!
DOUBLE FACTOR SPANGLES
The standard for the double factor spangle describes a bird with no markings, the outcome of further reduction of melanin associated with a second spangle gene (double factor) in the one bird. The body colour needs to be an even shade of ground colour (yellow in the green series and white in the blue series). The bird frequently has a fault (in terms of exhibition, but not necessarily in terms of pleasing visual appearance) which is a collar of body colour suffusion (green in the yellow bird and blue or grey in the white bird). Not having bred double factor spangles, I can only speculate on how their colour could be improved.Introduction of cinnamon into yellow double factor spangles may reduce the green suffusion but in doing so might affect the quality of the yellow colour (but many of the black-eyed yellow birds retain good colour in what is a cinnamon bird. How does colour compare between yellow lacewings, which are cinnamon lutinos, and lutinos?) The dark factor may enhance colour in the yellow double factor spangles as it does in black-eyed yellows and lutinos, or in double factor spangles would it also enhance undesireable suffusion? Opaline, which causes some reduction in body colour(if you don't believe this then compare cinnamon sky blues with opaline cinnamon sky blues) might be all that is needed in yellow double factor spangles to minimise green suffusion. The grey factor in grey green double factor spangles might be expected to give an undesirable mustard yellow, rather than the desired buttercup yellow, which is the problem with the grey factor in black-eyed yellows.
Presumably breeding programs for the white double factor spangle avoid the dark factor and incorporate the grey factor to reduce the blue suffusion? This approach is used in the breeding of albinos. Cinnamon may, in contrast to its possible undesirable effect on the yellow bird, be effective in reducing suffusion in the white bird without detriment to purity of white colour? (White lacewings are merely cinnamon albino composites and are unsuffused when they, like the albinos, carry the grey factor). Opaline may also be a useful addition to the white double factor spangle, with the same effect as that suggested for the yellow double factor spangle.
What I have discussed (or speculated about?) is the use of other well known genes as colour modifiers in the breeding of the double factor spangle. If the yellow and the white birds really do need different sets of modifiers to optimise colour, then obviously the two colours need to be bred in separate families. What do double factor spangle breeders think of the above suggestions? The more adventurous must have tried them? But colour represents only 25% of the score for an exhibition budgerigar, compared with type which accounts for 60%, so perhaps many of the breeders of double factor spangles concentrate exclusively on the improvement of type?
What would a double factor spangle cinnamon suffused violet look like? Would it be pink? I have not seen English yellowfaces or Australian double factor yellowfaces on double factor spangles in the blue series but I imagine they would be beautiful birds. Someone must have bred such birds. Many breeders have put yellow faces into the single factor blue series spangles and these birds are always popular with the general public. The English yellow face mutation is far easier to work with for this purpose but the results from the viewpoint of colour are far more striking using Australian yellowface (otherwise known as goldenface) mutation in its double factor form. The double factor Australian yellowface mauve in normals and spangles is, in body colour, the closest to a black budgerigar that I have seen. The single factor spangle double factor Australian yellowface violet is one of the most beautiful budgerigars anyone would ever wish to see.
The challenge for the colour breeder is to breed the above mentioned variations to exhibition standard. The advent of the spangle mutation has provided many opportunities to experiment with some very interesting composites in addition to providing a very strong exhibition budgerigar bred in the more conventional colours of light green, grey-green, sky and grey normals.