SPECIES SPOTLIGHT

America's sweetheart:
the gentle cockatiel

Wild and many pet cockatiels are of the "normal" grey variety. Mature males have bright yellow heads with orange cheek patches.

ITS JUST-RIGHT SIZE and pleasant personality endears the cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus) to just about everyone who likes birds.

Cockatiels are among the most popular parrots ever. I discovered them after I gave one to my mom to keep her company after my father died. The bird loved to cuddle but she turned out to be a female and didn't whistle or talk. She wasn’t what Mom had hoped for, so she came to live with us.

Our family had enjoyed raising canaries and thought it might be fun to raise cockatiels. So we bought a cock from a local breeder and introduced the two birds after the customary 45-day quarantine period.

As luck would have it, our cockatiel couple raised a very nice first clutch of babies, which we handfed and sold as pets with the exception of one lutino. I decided to keep this baby and try my hand at showing cockatiels. That was 17 years ago and I haven’t looked back!

Charmers from Down Under
Cockatiels are Australian parrots, smaller cousins of the cockatoo, with petite crests atop their heads.

Avicultural books first described cockatiels in 1792, but it wasn’t until the nineteenth century that Europeans and Americans saw live birds. Until then, Australia was largely unsettled, home mainly to penal colonies.

Among the first Australia colonists was the English ornithologist and taxidermist John Gould and his family, who landed in Tasmania in 1838.

The first color mutation of the grey cockatiel was the pied, first introduced in the United States before 1951.

The Goulds soon moved to the mainland of Australia and by 1840 Gould and his brothers-in-law began to publish books on Australian birds. Gould named the cockatiel the "cockatoo-parrot," and by 1864 the little birds were well known as pets in England.

However, a man named Jamrach, one of the most successful importers of exotic livestock into England at the time, gave the small crested birds a different name. He called them cockatiels, based on the Dutch word kakatielle, derived in turn from the Portuguese cacatilho, for "little cockatoo."

By 1884, cockatiels were well established as breeding birds in European aviaries. In 1902, the English writer David Seth-Smith noted that “except for the budgerigar, the cockatiel was, by far, the commonest Australian parrot in English aviaries where scores were being reared annually."

Branching out from grey
Today’s cockatiel differs from its wild brethren in a couple of ways. While pet-stock cockatiels are about the same size as wild birds, measuring 9 or 10 inches long and weighing 70 to 80 grams, show birds measure 12 to 13 inches long and weigh from 115 to 175 grams.

Many different color mutations beyond the standard grey also are now available. The first mutation, the pied (or harlequins as some prefer), was officially recorded in the United States before 1951.

The Dutch and Belgians are credited with developing the deep canary shade of the lutino, but these weren't officially recorded until 1958 in Florida. Opalines, also called pearls, appeared in West Germany in 1967. Cinnamons appeared the next year in Belgium, followed by the red-eyed, or fallow.

Following are color mutations now commonly found in the pet trade. In all cases except pied, albino, whiteface and whiteface-based mutations, males can be counted on to have the trademark bright yellow head with dark cheek patches.

• Normal, or grey. Uniform dark grey, except for white outer wing feathers, yellow head (in males) and orange cheek patch.
• Pied. About 75 percent yellow and 25 percent dark grey, with yellow pied markings over white pied markings and white tail and wing flights.
• Lutino. A rich, deep buttercup yellow throughout. Long tail feathers and primary flights may be a lighter shade of yellow.
• Pearl. Extensive deep buttercup-yellow pearl markings.
• Cinnamon. A light brown throughout.
• Albino. Pure white birds with red eyes. Primaries and flight feathers may be an off-shade of white.
• Whiteface. Same as a normal grey cockatiel, but males have pure-white masks.
• Fallow. Light cinnamon suffused with yellow. Eyes are red.
• Silver. Dull metallic-looking feathers; red eyes.
• Yellowcheek. Male birds have yellow faces with gold cheek patches.
• Pastel. Male birds have yellow faces with peach cheek patches.
• Olive. Feathers have a green wash and a light spangling pattern.
• Single-factor dominant silver. Feathers are a darker metallic silver, with orange check patches and black eyes, feet and beak (except in pieds, which have flesh-colored feet and beaks. A skullcap of darker pigmentation is visible on the head.
• Double-factor dominate silver. Same as single-factor dominant silver, except feathers are a light metallic silver.

Some breeders combine these mutations to create more; for example, a lutino pearl, or a cinnamon pearl pied.

Depending on the rarity of the mutation and whether the bird is a pet-store or show cockatiel, prices for cockatiels vary widely, ranging from $30 to well over $1,000.

Good parents
Cockatiels are easy to breed and for the most part are good parents. Occasionally pets may be so imprinted on their humans they won’t identify another cockatiel as a mate, but this is the exception. More commonly, problems result from poor nutrition, disturbances near the nesting area, or breeding birds that are too young.

Albino cockatiels are completely white with red eyes.

Show pairs appreciate wooden nest boxes measuring 12 inches square with a 2½- to 3-inch opening. For smaller pets, a box 10 inches wide by 11 inches tall with a 2-inch opening is sufficient.

You can find acceptable nesting boxes at feed supply and pet stores. Or, you can build your own. (See the American Cockatiel Society’s Web site for a how-to article.) To line the box, use one to two inches of pine shavings. This helps to cushion the eggs and keeps them from rolling about in the nest box. It also supports newly hatched chicks.

Most cockatiels lay between four and six eggs and begin sitting on the nest after the second egg. Chicks hatch after 18 to 21 days. If offered proper nutrition, cockatiels will easily feed and raise their babies without help from their human owners.

However, for detailed information on hand feeding, check out my article at http://www.acstiels.com/handfeed.html.

Avoid round cages
Offer your cocketial a square or rectangular cage (round ones will cause him to break or fray his long tail feathers) at least 18 inches square. Carefully check larger cages to make sure the bars are spaced less than one inch apart. Otherwise, your bird might try to put his head through them. The door should be large enough to allow you to bring your cockatiel out perched on your hand.

Give your cockatiel toys made for parrots larger than parakeets. Avoid toys with jingle bells, which can easily ensnare his beak. You may also want to avoid mirrors, which can cause aggressiveness in some birds.

I feed my cockatiels a diet of fortified seed supplemented by dark greens, including kale, spinach, broccoli and collard greens. Wheat bread, cornbread, whole kernel corn, legumes, cooked pasta and spray millet help complete a well-rounded diet. Like any other hookbill, cockatiels should never be offered grit, avocado, chocolate or caffeinated items. With good care, your cockatiel should live well into his twenties.

Color mutations are available in an almost endless number of combinations, including this pastel pearl male.

Females don't mimic
As a rule, female cockatiels don't "talk." Males can, but you should avoid teaching them to whistle first. They may find they prefer this easier trick. Cockatiels learn their first words and songs by hearing them repeated many times over the course of several weeks. After this, subsequent lessons are easier.

Cockatiels have a lot in common with another bird I’ve raised, the pionus, a South American parrot. They’re about the same size, although pionuses are much stockier, weighing twice as much. Both love to be cuddled and played with and both can learn to mimic human speech.

But cockatiels got a head start as pets, and I think their slender bodies and especially sweet natures keep them on top as favorites. Like any other parrot, cockatiels can be spoiled and develop bad traits that frustrate their owners, including screaming and even feather picking. But if trained, these little parrots can quickly become a valuable member of any family.

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All photos in this story courtesy of the American Cockatiel Society.

ParrotChronicles.com

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