Back capped conure has blue on him?

[generalgibby]

Yoshi before he molted:


I have a black capped conure, Yoshi(1-2 years old). We got him from a pet store, and he had no tail feathers at the time. Over the few months he molted and has gotten a nice new set of feathers over him, but me and my mother noticed he has blue on him now?! Small about on the back of his neck, 4 of his flight feathers, and at the base of his tail.
I’d get a photo but he is sleeping right now, but I colored on these as an example:

We weren’t sure if this blue was normal for a back capped, but he was definitely green before he molted. Lol

 

[IndySE]

Beautiful ! My sympathies to the duck-butt... I was so worried that Kermit in her clumsy baby years would loose all her tailfeathers.

I'm not sure about black capped conures, but Kermit my green-cheek conure gained some aqua plummage along the nape of her neck as well. They are related species, so perhaps the aqua at maturity isn't a terribly odd thing ? Either way, he's looking very handsome in his grown-up clothes.

 

[generalgibby]

Beautiful ! My sympathies to the duck-butt... I was so worried that Kermit in her clumsy baby years would loose all her tailfeathers.

I'm not sure about black capped conures, but Kermit my green-cheek conure gained some aqua plummage along the nape of her neck as well. They are related species, so perhaps the aqua at maturity isn't a terribly odd thing ? Either way, he's looking very handsome in his grown-up clothes.

Duck-butt, cute name for it. The pet store told us his tail might not come back, thankfully it did. ^u^ A maturity thing!? Aww, he’s becoming a little man... I mean bird... ahh... bird-man. Lol! This is our first conure, so we didn’t know if color change was normal. Thanks for your response!

 

[ChristaNL]

(my macaw arrived with any tailfeathers, I called it a penguin-butt. Duck-butt is even more fun)

 

[Laurasea]

Yoshi before he molted:
View attachment 21956View attachment 21957View attachment 21958

I have a black capped conure, Yoshi(1-2 years old). We got him from a pet store, and he had no tail feathers at the time. Over the few months he molted and has gotten a nice new set of feathers over him, but me and my mother noticed he has blue on him now?! Small about on the back of his neck, 4 of his flight feathers, and at the base of his tail.
I’d get a photo but he is sleeping right now, but I colored on these as an example:
View attachment 21954View attachment 21955
We weren’t sure if this blue was normal for a back capped, but he was definitely green before he molted. Lol

I
I was so concerned when I saw the first pictures. Then I read your story and I hope you share current picture when you can

I think sone blue is normal BTW

 

[EllenD]

Yep, perfectly normal for Black-Capped as well as some Green Cheeks, depending on their mutation...That first big molt that they have is the largest molt they experience during their entire lives, and it's when they shed their "baby feathers" and grow-in their adult plumage...And a lot of parrot species have adult-plumage that are totally different in color than their immature, "baby feathers"...I have a Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure, and his colors changed completely after his first molt...I was actually surprised just how much his colors changed, because his entire belly/chest went from being all red to all yellow with only a bit of red remaining on his lower abdomen; he got red patches on each side of head by his ears, and just like your Black-Capped Conure, he got bright blue feathers on his wings and in his tail-feathers...

I mentioned this in my long, boring response to your introductory post, lol, but all birds/parrots possess the ability to "Drop" their tail-feathers whenever they want to, and they "Drop" all of them at once...This is a survival-tactic/trait that they do whenever they feel very threatened or are trying to be caught by a predator, as predators often grab onto birds by their tail-feathers because they are long, they stick-out and are easy to get a hold of, and they are at the opposite end of the bird from their beak, the "weapon"...So if Yoshi came from a pet shop, it's likely that someone tried to grab him, or maybe he got loose and they started chasing him around the store, etc., and Yoshi, obviously feeling quite scared and stressed being in a strange place with lots of strange people grabbing at him and chasing him probably dropped his tail...You can usually safely assume that the bird "Dropped" their tails purposely if they have lost ALL of their tail-feathers, either that or someone accidentally stepped on their tail, or backed a chair over their tail...I've seen that happen more than once, and ANY TIME a bird's tail gets trapped or stuck underneath something, like a rolling-chair on wheels or under someone's foot, they typically do "Drop" their tail...It's perfectly normal, they all possess the ability to do it, and it certainly doesn't mean that anything is wrong with them...And when they do purposely "Drop" their tails, they always grow right back-in, though it does take a while for them to grow back-in fully, since they're so long and there are so many of them...But totally normal and nothing weird or anything to worry about...

 

[generalgibby]

Update: This is him now! Nice new tail feathers. Sorry for long wait, I had trouble uploading the photos so I had to link it.

 

[SassiBird]

Yes, black-capped conures have blue feathers. My girls is 4 this spring. The flight feathers are the most brilliant blue. The neck feathers are blue-ish in the right light. Very few people ever get to see the butt feathers, but they are blue-ish also.

 

[EllenD]

Yep, looks great...My Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure has a ton of blue feathers in his tail, along with red, green, and yellow...His tail was pretty much all black and red when he was a little baby. They really do grow into some awesomely colored plumage...