The Spangle

Nigel Tonkin

The Spangle has made monumental progress in Australia since the first importations of budgerigars into this country from the United Kingdom in 1990.

I might hasten to add, that so have most of the other varieties as well.

The transformation of the "old style" bird to the "new style" bird has not been without its problems. Some breeders were reluctant to accept change. I can understand their feelings, in that an aviary full "old style", "quality" birds would soon have been out of date.

Rumours were rife that the UK/European budgerigar had many undesirable features. The statement that long flights and secondaries were prevalent throughout, seemed to register the most concern.

After visiting the UK in 1989 and Germany and the UK in 1990 and sighting a large number of birds, at a large number of establishments, I was more than pleased to note that the majority of these statements were garbage, and totally unfounded. Secondaries and flight problems were in the main non-existent. My visits to these countries again in 1992 and 1994 showed that these features had not been "downgraded" in any way at all.

As was suggested in the earlier paragraphs, some very strong birds have made their way into this country. It would be out of order for me to talk on the general quality of birds that were in my 1991 consignment, so I won't, but I will comment on a couple that the purchaser has given permission for me to discuss. A Cobalt Spangle cock from Tom Williams, and a Grey Spangle cock from Mick Joines, were two excellent birds purchased by Mark Bridgeman, plus I was fortunate enough to obtain a Spangle Opaline Dark Green cock from Mick Joines, of good quality visually, and excellent quality genetically. I might add at this point, I had not seen many better birds of any variety in the United Kingdom than the Spangle Grey cock purchased from Mick - I believe it would still hold its own against most of the birds being bred today.

The Spangle Cobalt cock mentioned previously was sent to me, as the bird would not fire for Mark in Melbourne. I paired him to a part Williams-bred hen with very good results - a Grey Spangle cock son winning the Australian Nationals of that variety in 1993. A very strong bird that has bred some superior progeny when paired to a family of birds bred from a Grey Yellow cock 50% Molkentin and 50% Will and a Light Green hen 75% Endres and 25% Mannes. Unfortunately, some of the progeny are flecked but I will live with that as the quality is of more importance. The Joines Spangle Grey was used by Mark with great results, a daughter, a Grey Spangle coming third in the 1993 Australian Nationals, and a grandson, a Spangle Dark Green cock winning the Nationals in 1994.

The Spangle Opaline Dark Green cock I purchased from Mick also left me with some quality chicks, and when pairing these back to the Grey Yellow/Light Green family the results were super, with one of the daughters, a Spangle Light Green, coming second to Marks' cock bird this year. She, and one of her sisters, would be a couple of the nicest hens I have ever produced.

On my recent trip to the UK, I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase for myself two Mannes line Spangle Yellowface hens, one from Jim Hutton and one from Rodney Harris, plus an Attwood Spangle cock directly from Jeff, that I believe have the features to kick this variety on in my aviary another step.

I will take some advice from Joe Mannes and pair Spangle to Spangle with the aim to produce double factors that I will pair back into quality normals, to improve the Spangle wing markings. The main pairing will be a son of the Spangle Grey paired to the Spangle Light Green hen previously mentioned, both being related through the Grey Yellow/Light Green family.

I enjoy the challenge of improving the budgerigar in general, but the Spangle for some reason holds a special place in my heart, and with the friendly rivalry I have with Mark, I believe we both strive harder to breed that goodun, thus the variety becomes the winner.

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