 |
- The best places to find and adopt a cockatiel
- The gear you need to make sure that your cockatiel settles in at home
- Feeding, grooming, and training tips to keep him healthy and happy
|
 |
|
 |
|
Meet the Cockatiel
A colorful little bird best known for his whistling ability, the charming and playful cockatiel makes a wonderful family pet. These entertaining little mimics have lively and affectionate personalities, and they are also highly intelligent and easy to tame.
Appearance
At maturity, cockatiels weigh about 3–4 ounces (85–113 g) and average 12–13" (31–33 cm) long from head to tail. The tail makes up half the body length and is used
actively during flight and while climbing.
The cockatiel’s most notable characteristic is his crest, which is made up of many feathers of varying sizes. The ideal height of a cockatiel’s crest is 3" (8 cm), but breeders often concentrate on this feature to produce varieties with especially prominent and distinguished crests. The crest can sometimes indicate a cockatiel’s mood: if it’s standing upright, the bird is alert and content, but if the feathers are flattened against the head, it’s a sign that the bird is either frightened or angry.
Color Varieties
In the wild, most cockatiels are predominantly gray. In captivity, many color variations have been derived from the normal color. Also, unlike many parrots, wild cockatiels are dimorphic, meaning males and females have different coloration from one another. The following are some of the more common cockatiel color variations.
-
Albino: The albino is a genetic
combination of a whiteface and a lutino (see later in this section). This cockatiel is entirely white in color, and there is no way to visually discriminate between the male and female albino cockatiel, as both sexes are completely white.
-
Lutino: This cockatiel is
white with a yellow wash (mostly white but with a yellow hue on certain spots of the body). The bill and the feet are pink, and the eyes are red. The male and female look fairly similar, but a female’s tail feathers have a yellow barring that the male lacks.
-
Pied: These cockatiels have
large patches of color that can appear anywhere on the body. Some pieds have only a single white feather or just a splotch of pink on a single toe, while others appear so heavily splotched that they almost resemble lutinos.
-
Whiteface: The whiteface cockatiel lacks yellow and orange coloration, which leaves the face completely white in the male and completely gray in the female.
Temperament and Behavior
Cockatiels are devoted pets. They have pleasant, sunny dispositions and a lot of personality, making them ideal for a first-time bird owner. In general, cockatiels are gentle and loving, and they delight in being petted and held. They are also very active and need plenty of time out of their cages to play, exercise, and interact with their owners.
These intelligent birds can also learn to speak and even perform tricks. Their vocal abilities aren’t as prominent as some other parrots, but they excel at whistling and can learn to mimic sounds. (Males tend to speak and whistle more than their female counterparts.)
Is Your Home Right for a Cockatiel?
Before you consider bringing a cockatiel into your home, you should be willing and able to care for him for many years because a healthy cockatiel can live for decades. Like any companion animal, he requires a suitable environment to live a long, happy life. It’s up to you to keep your bird well fed, healthy, and safe.
Feather Dust
If you or someone in your home has allergies or an otherwise sensitive respiratory system, a cockatiel may not be a suitable addition to your family.
The cockatiel has powder-down feathers—small white feathers that grow just beneath the down feathers that make up a bird’s fluffy undercoat. These feathers produce a very fine white feather dust that a cockatiel uses while grooming to coat the other feathers, helping to keep them clean. Unfortunately, this dust will emanate from your bird when he ruffles and shakes his feathers, possibly triggering allergies and also settling throughout your home and in your bird’s cage.
Even if allergies aren’t a concern for anyone in your home, you’ll still need to bathe your bird and clean his cage (and any rooms in which you let out your bird) more frequently than you would a less dusty bird. You can also use an air purifier near the cage to cut down on the dust, but there will still be some amount of dust to contend with in the cage and in your home. Keep this in mind if you’re planning to purchase a cockatiel.
| Text & Photos Copyright © 2007 TFH Publications, Inc. | Acknowledgments & Disclaimer |
Tags
No one has tagged this page yet... Be the first.. Log in using the link below and return to add your tag
