The Finches are a diverse group of a hundreds species of birds. There are many species of finches that display spectacular colors in their bare parts and feathers, from the red to the blue.  

Color variation means a color which is different and distinctive from the normal, natural color for that species of finch.

There are many species of finches have subspecies. The natural subspecies have the same general plumage color pattern but differ in details: the size of patches, amount of spots or the coloration on the parts of body. Subspecies usually occurs because of geographical isolation within a species, and differences such as plumage color variations are a common basis for subspecies distinctions. An example of this would Shafttail Finch subspecies Poephila acuticauda acuticauda and Poephila acuticauda hecki.  Heck's Shafttail (P.a. hecki) has a remarkable red bill and the P. a. acuticauda has a yellow bill.  

There are many species of finches that are domesticated for keeping in captivity, and each of which may have different color variations. The plumage colors of a bird are formed in different ways: from either pigments, from light refraction caused by the structure of the feather, and, in some cases, as the result of a combination of pigment and structural colors. When pigments are present at unusual levels, up or down, the appearance of a bird can change dramatically.

Some color variation is considered as modification. Modification is a change in an organism that is not inherited.  An example, some juveniles emerge from the nest with white wing flight feathers. Such pied birds during the first/juvenile molt turned into a normal color. The modification is a result of nutritional problem or influence of environment, such as light deficiency.

Color mutation is a color variation which transmitted (inherited) from parents to offspring.  Mutation can result in several different types of change in gene and alter the product of a gene, or prevent the gene from functioning properly or completely.  Actually color mutations are a natural but rare phenomenon that occurs either in the wild or captivity. In the wild color mutants are more easily picked off by predators, and that is a reason why we don’t meet them so often. Finch color mutations in captivity exist due to selective breeding by breeders because most mutations are beautiful looking.

Some colors in bird feathers are under the control of a single gene. Other colors can be the polygenic by nature that means several genes interact in different ways to produce new combinations.  So that the now known color variations  may be different combinations of the known genes due to human manipulating the finch breeding to get a certain result.

Sometimes breeders give the name for a rare finch color based on their first visual impression.  And the problem is that for some colors we do have several different names.  This does not mean that it is a different mutation. It only means it is a different name. Another problem, two different mutations can have a pretty similar color. Only the breeding data can determine in which category the case is.

   White  –  Is white really a color?  Scientists consider black to be the absence of color and white to be the presence of all colors. According to the RGB Color Model white color can be made by mixing three primary colors Red, Green, and Blue.  RGB: 100%, 100%, and 100%.

   Albino  –  Albinos are known and referred to as Red Eyed Whites. Albinism occurs when one of several genetic defects makes the body unable to produce or distribute of the pigment, melanin.

  Cream / Creamino – a yellowish-white color. RGB: 100%, 99%, 82%. Cream finches are a common name for birds that represents this color. The cream finches are created by the ino gene are called creaminos (cream-ino). Ino gene is a sex-linked gene.

   List of finch species for which color variations are known. This list attempts to introduce the finch color variations and the names that are given to them. The name of variation is taken from internet-resource.

Click on photo or icon to see the original and internet-resource it come from