I have very often noticed that the term “Darth vader” is misused for ordinary male birds of the US Red-breasted mutation of the Chinese painted quail (Coturnix chinensis).
I would like to remind that the so-called “Darth vader” type only concerns male birds for whom the head has become entirely black and where the white-collar has completely disappeared.
Those birds are supposed to also have the pearl factor inside but we still have no certitude about that.
More information on the origin of this name can be found in the book of my excellent colleague and friend Garrie J. Landry.
Below, some pictures of a real “Darth vader” male born in my aviaries in 2018.
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