Having a hard time sexing a cockatiel

Hey there,

This Past December I got a whiteface cockatiel. Back then it had a grey face, and barring on its tail feathers (everything indicating female). Over the last three months the face has gradually turned white, and it whistles and sings like crazy. Even picked up "pretty bird" quickly. All which make me think it may have been misidentified. However, it still has the barring on the tail feathers. I'm very confused. Is it some sort of split? The picture attached is of the same bird, three months ago and today. I'm not sure of the age, but I believe it's under a year. I've named him/her Bandit (it has a mask).

Bandit is a male.


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Thank you!!!! I was starting to believe so, but didn't know for sure.

Bandit is a male. Young birds have markings that are typically considered female markings such as tail barring and dark faces in most mutations.


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agree male

Agreed with the others. I actually have a whiteface like yours, a male. Here's a pice of my two:






The female is on the left, male is on right. They are both sexually mature (4 and 5). The male started out with dark grey cheeks like his body but they lightened up as he molted and matured.

See how the female has the barred markings on her tail feathers, and the male does not? Hope the pic helps a little

Are there any proper way to judge this male female thing

sdsahan said:

Are there any proper way to judge this male female thing

Click to expand...

This link may help you. It has pictures and detailed descriptions.

I had an avian vet tell a trainee about Sky - he was born as a white face cinnamon but is loosing the cinnamon so he's just white and grey.

Apparently the females don't loose the cinnamon but the males do. But I've had both of my tiels DNA tested by the breeder we got them from (it was like $20 though)

Yes, he is a male. But just to once again emphasize a very important thing to remember that people seem to have a hard time with: You cannot determine the sex of a bird by how loud or quiet it is, whether it talks or not, etc. It just doesn't work. Most birds must be DNA sexed to know the sex, the cockatiel is one of the few species that can sometimes be visually sexed, depending on the mutation. I keep seeing people come on here while they are trying to "pair up" birds to breed, and they don't understand why their male and female won't mate. Forgetting the other issues with just putting two birds together to make them breed, they often say something like "I've already confirmed this bird is a female because she is quiet, and I've confirmed this one a male because he's loud and talks". Then they say that their breeder confirmed that their 3 month old pearl cockatiel is a female due to feather barring, but this is impossible before their first molt...Uhg. Sometimes they say their avian vet "confirmed" their baby bird was a female because it's quiet and due to "the shape of its head at 3 months old". It just doesn't work folks. Just a reminder to anyone that searches this post for sexing information. BTW, I have an 8 month old female cockatiel (DNA sexed) who is louder than my male Quaker parrot and says a lot of words. And this isn't uncommon.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."