Cockatiel Mutations

This is not a gender guide (see link above for that). Some mutations are impossible to sex visually (like pied). I list the gender only F.Y.I. In many cases these birds were sexed by behavior.

Normal Body is grey with white on wings and yellow cheek patches. Hens and juveniles have yellow barring on the tail. Hens may also have slight yellow flecking on head. Males lose tail barring and get a yellow head.	Cinnamon Muting of all hues. Grey areas often turn cinnamon in color. Note the difference between Ralphie (whiteface) and Linus (below).
Pearl Body is covered with a unique pattern of spots. Females retain pearls throughout their lives. Males lose most pearls with their first molt. Eventually they will lose all of them until they look just like normals. Note the pics of Ralphie (whiteface) and Linus (cinnamon) below. Both males have the solid head color and are losing their pearls.	Whiteface No yellow pigments produced. All yellow and orange areas now white.
Pied Loss of pigmentation on random sections of the body, showing up as alternating light and dark.	Lutino No black pigment produced. Red eyes. Bird appears white/yellow with typical orange cheek patch.
Albino No pigments produced. Red eyes. Bird is solid white.	Yellowface Cheekpatches are yellow rather than orange. Note the drastic difference in cheek coloration below.

Thanks to Pam Bowman for the nice tiel pics! Articles and images contained on this site are © 1997-2002 by Karen Trinkaus unless otherwise noted and may not be reprinted or used in any way without the author's permission.