The following will discuss only the most common categories of color varieties in lovebirds.

Blue: No true blue color exists in peachfaced as par-blue, marine, or green-blue. You may have heard the term Dutch blue used as well. To achieve true blue, you need a complete absence of red and yellow psitacin. How the light scatters or reflects from such feathers gives the appearance of blue. In peachfaced lovebirds there is only a partial reduction in yellow and red psittacin. True blue mutations occur in Fischer's and masked lovebirds.

Dilute: This is exactly what it sounds like: a dilution of color. For example, a blue dilute is a color somewhere between blue and white. There is a slight reduction in melanin but not enough to produce a completely white lovebird.

Ino: Rather than jump right to the commonly used terms of lutino, creamino, and albino, first understanding the concept behind the ino mutation is best. Ino lovebirds have no melanin, even in the eyes. The eyes appear to be red or ruby in these lovebirds. If you have a peachfaced lovebird whose ground color is ground color is green, ino expresses itself as lutino, a bright yellow lovebird with a lighter red face and red eyes. If you have a peachfaced lovebird whose ground color is blue, it will express itself as creamino, a red-eyed, pale yellow lovebird due to the presence of some yelow psittacin. In a blue Fisher's or masked lovebird, it will express itself as albino because these are true blue mutations and there is a complete absence of psittacin.

Australian cinnamon:  This is not actually a true cinnamon but, rather, an ino mutation. Many people prefer the term Australian ino for this lovebird. Slightly more melanin occurs in the Autralian cinnamon than in the lutino. Therefore, the eyes appear ruby during the first few weeks of life but darken to a brownish shade as the lovebird matures. However, because the mechanism behind this mutation is similiar to that behind the lutino, it can be more accurately described as an ino color. This mutation in peachfaced lovebirds creates a unique situation. A male peachfaced lovebird can essentially carry the genetic makeup for both lutino and Australian cinnamon. These lovebirds are called split cinnamoninos.

Cinnamon:  True cinnamon, called American cinnamon in peachfaced lovebirds, is due to black melanin being replaced by brown melanin, giving the lovebird a more cinnamon or light brown appearance. The actual appearance of the ground color is blue or green.

Dark factors:  This is a separate element that affects the lovebird's overall color by darkening it. Dark factors are not a color in and of themselves but, rather, are due to a change in the structure of the feather barb, affecting how it reflects light. A single dark factor will deepen the ground color of the lovebird, creating a medium green or medium blue. Double dark factors result in the total loss of the reflection of blue light, producing olive (greens) and slate (blues).

Violet factor: The violet factor works in a similar fashion to the dark factors. It is also due to a change in the feather structure. This color can be obscured in a lovebird with double dark factors. However, it can deepen to a beautiful deep purple when a single dark factor is present.

Whitefaced: This change in the face and bib of the peachfaced lovebird is due to a further reduction of psittacin in a lovebird with blue (parblue) ground color. Whitefaced and what is traditionally called Dutch blue (or simply blue) genes exist on the same allele. You can have two Dutch blue genes to have a whitefaced lovebird. If you have one Dutch blue and one whitefaced gene, you have a sea-green lovebird.

Sea green:  Sea green is best described as somewhere between blue and green, intermediate to whitefaced. The overall body color is more green than in the blues. Many times the belly is much lighter green. The beak is two-toned. In terms of being an intermediate factor to whitefaced, if you have two sea-green lovebirds together, some of their young may be whitefaced. You increase the odds of getting whitefaced babies by having one whitefaced parent in the pair.