Clearwings

The Tale of The Clearwing

By Ron Hunt

When a new variety appears on the scene Budgerigar Fanciers become interested & put forward their ideas based on several criteria:

The new bird is recognised as being different to existing standards.
Can be reproduced easily without being an expert in genetics.
Does not look like an existing standard when mated with existing standards.

The Clearwings in the 1930’s certainly complied with all of these points. The bird put on the bench today would fail these criteria. I have included photos of today’s winning Clearwings to prove my point.

The photo of the Sky Blue is from the front cover of an old magazine from Europe in 1984 and is labelled White Wing Sky Blue. I find it hard not to call it Greywing Sky Blue.

The photo of the green birds are the winning Clearwings from a top N.S.W. show and the same can be said: “The markings are grey.”

Some talk about the absence of throat spots being a guide, but I disagree as spots can moult out on the week of the show!!

Standards for Clearwings

I have Budgerigar Standards that go back to the 1930’s up till the present. To that end, I find an interesting point is the description of the Clearwing tail. The colour variations are obviously altered to suit a breeder’s birds, which is the reverse of what should be the case.

The standard of perfection re identification should be something for breeders to aim for, not to be altered to comply with breeders’ problems.

The Clearwings bred by the late Hadley Yardley were so striking in colour that pet shop owners and people wanting a pet Budgie would choose one of these birds time & time again.

I know a band of breeders of the Yardley style of Clearwings who will not put their birds in a B.S. Show because they are always beaten by a ‘Greywing’, but they will compete in shows like the Heritage Society where their birds are judged as Clearwings, probably costing the show somewhere from 4 to 40 entries in a time when entries are falling.

This could be something to consider. The problem lies with our judges. Unless they are colour blind, they should wrong class the ‘Greywings’ presented as Clearwings.

I have listed the changes in the clearwing tail from 1935 to the present time as per website. It tells of The Standard being altered by fanciers to comply with their birds rather than the breeder matching The Standard?? Certainly, this has killed off the true Clearwing.

Clearwing Tails Standard

Year	Tail Standard
1935	Yellow or White
1958	Pale Green or Pale Blue
1962	Pale Green or Pale Blue – Diagram White
1976	Yellow or White
1984	Pale Yellow or White
1990	Neutral? Ground or body colour
2003	Neutral with ground or body colour
2019	Neutral with ground & body colour

Altered to suit something??

Ron Hunt