There is a lack of information concerning dominant Dutch pieds. Many authors of Budgerigar reference books failed to pay much attention to this interesting and attractive mutation. Taylor and Warner [2] reported its first appearance somewhere between 1939 and 1945. During my literature research it was found that this type of pied indeed appeared in a Dutch aviary.
This mutation did not became very popular so far. One of the reasons might be that the inheritance of the pigment pattern is poorly understood. Several authors believe the continental flight to be a selective form of Dutch pied [1,2,4] and although accurate breeding data have not been published so far, I believe they are right. I also noticed some remarkable reports about some peculiar similarities found between recessive harlequins and dominant Dutch pieds.

When a DF Dutch pied is mated to a normal, the expected progeny is 100% SF Dutch pieds. However, some authors reported as an exception the appearance of a normal chick in the offspring of such mating. The exceptional appearance of a normal chick raised from a mating between two recessive pieds was also reported in some reference books.

Eyecolour
Dutch pieds normally have white irises, however, there are many Dutch pieds who are split for recessive pied. The reason for that is that these birds are very useful for breeding dark eyed yellows or whites. Some of these birds show two different coloured eyes. One eye is normal with a white iris and the other lacks the white iris and thus resembles the harlequin eye. However, this has been reported as a very rare event.

First experiences
A few years ago a SF Dutch pied cock raised from a blackeyed white, was donated to MUTAVI for testmatings. The genotype of this dutch pied appeared to be: bl_D ⁺/ bl⁺_D⁺ Pi / Pi⁺ s / s⁺ Xop / Xop⁺ which actually is a normal lightgreen Dutch pied split blue, recessive pied and opaline. This bird was mated to a darkgreen opaline/bl Type II hen and they produced thirteen chicks in three rounds, five of them were Dutch pieds. One normal cobalt Dutch pied, one normal lightgreen Dutch pied and three lightgreen opaline Dutch pieds.

Written description:
Dominant Dutch pied light green- Mask: buttercup yellow ornamented by six black throat spots, the outer partially covered by the cheek patches.

Cheekpatches:
Violet, in some specimens cobalt or slightly affected showing silver patches.

General body colour:
Somewhat brighter than normal light greens, just like most recessive pieds. Sometimes a yellow/white patch varying in size is present at the throat region. Some specimens have a patchy body colour.

Wings:
In my strain, as the normal light green with sharp wing markings.

The opaline Dutch pieds have extremely good markings and have a very "clean" saddle. If this has anything to do with the Dutch pied factor is unclear to me at this moment.

Tail: Primary tail feathers unaffected, some secondary tail feathers are slightly affected with unpigmented spots.

Cere: As in normal light greens.

Eyes: Dark with white irises.

Feet and legs: Normal, in some specimens fleshy pink or a mixture of both.

Beak: Normal

Head spot: Present in all specimens and varying in shape and size.

In 1986 an article by Dr. Robert Travnicek was published in Budgerigar World [3]. Studying my offspring very carefully, I came to the conclusion that my Dutch pieds are exactly the same as the yellow face continental flighted pieds described by Dr.Travnicek. Therefore I would like to state that continental flighted and Dutch pieds both are the result of the same mutation (Pi). Note that male Dutch pieds show a little more pied than female Dutch pieds. This is also the case in recessive pieds and in dominant Australian pieds.

Consulted and cited Literature:

[1] Rogers C., (1987)
    The World of Budgerigars: p.p.73-81
    Nimrod Press LTD, England
[2] Taylor T.G., Warner C., (1986)
    Genetics for Budgerigar Breeders: p.p.90-94
    The Budgerigar Society, England
[3] Travnicek R., (1986)
    Budgerigar World, July Issue: p.p.15-16
[4] Yorke K., (1993)
    Budgerigar World, February Issue: p.p.25-26