Normal

The wild-type foundation

Dominant

The "normal" or wild-type budgie is the baseline — the look budgerigars have in the wild across Australia. They feature bold black barring on the head, dark wing markings with yellow-edged feathers, and a rich green body (or blue in the blue-series). All other mutations are changes from this original form.

Every budgie carries two copies of each gene. A bird that shows the normal appearance has at least one normal allele at each mutation locus, since normal is dominant over most mutations.

Opaline

Altered wing & body pattern

Sex-Linked Recessive

Opaline budgies have a striking transformation — the body color spreads into the wings, replacing the black markings with a softer, diluted version tinted with the bird's body color. The head barring becomes thinner and the throat spots may merge or reduce.

Because opaline is sex-linked, hens only need one copy of the gene to show it, while cocks need two. This makes opaline hens relatively common, while visual opaline cocks require both parents to carry the gene.

Cinnamon

Warm brown wing markings

Sex-Linked Recessive

Cinnamon replaces the black melanin in the wing markings with a warm, chocolate-brown tone. The body color remains the same, but the overall look is softer and warmer. The tail feathers also shift from black to brown.

Like opaline, cinnamon is sex-linked. A cinnamon hen passes the gene to all her sons (who become splits), while a visual cinnamon cock passes it to all his daughters. Cinnamon combined with opaline creates the beautiful "lacewing" variety.

Greywing

Diluted wings with full body color

Recessive

Greywing budgies have their black wing markings reduced to a soft grey, while the body color remains at roughly 50% intensity. This gives them a gentle, pastel-like appearance that's quite distinctive. The throat spots remain visible but are diluted.