When I adopted Ulrich in March of 2004, he had a large black patch of feathers on his chest.  He molted them out and grew in nice green feathers.  But now I am noticing that that patch that was once nice and green is slowly starting to turn black again.  I've never seen him preen this area.  I don't pet or touch him on this area.  I can't figure out how or why his feathers are turning black.  If anyone has any ideas, please email me.

February 2004 (before adoption).  Note black area on chest.

February 2005.  He had molted many of his old feathers, but not the black ones on his chest.

Summer 2005--Looking very handsome.

July 2005---feathers are green, but wavy.

Note--the ends of the curly feathers are yellow.  This was the first part to start turning black.

Close up of "curly" feathers.

August 2005.  Feathers still looking good.

August 2005. Nice uniform color.

October 2005--tips of curly feathers that were once yellow have started to turn black.

December 2005--tips of feathers on chest are getting black.

February 2006--Chest area is noticably blacker.

March 2006

Closeup of chest feathers--March 2006

Below are some close-ups of the molted black feathers from his chest. The tips are black with yellow on the end, and are frayed-- kind of like split ends in human hair. The photos below are pictures of the feathers he had when I adopted him.  After he molted them, the new feathers came in looking green and healthy, but seem to be slowly turning black again.