Can cockatiels sense what sex babies are?

[SMS00]

Yes, I’m aware it’s a bit of a weird question!

Our two birds have become three, after my youngest came into a nice wee sum of money, and he chose to buy a new cage and the most gorgeous white face cockatiel. After a period of keeping the new bird (Lorenzo) separated from Pavel & Maurice, the three have integrated in together, and are largely ignoring the new cage, and preferring to all go to bed in the original cage.

But here’s the thing. Pavel is definitely a boy. He shows all the male characteristics of heart wings, beak banging etc, and is currently moulting and showing a lot brighter yellow markings on the face now, and Maurice is definitely a girl - currently moulting and is still relatively dull faced. Lorenzo? Well who knows, to be honest. No orange patches at all, obviously, and is still too young to have moulted, but Pavel just seems to be drawn to her/him. He follows Lorenzo around, preens her feathers, snuggles next to her at night. If Lorenzo was my daughter, there would be some police contact about just how much stalking Pavel is doing, tbh. Lorenzo seems to enjoy the attention, and Maurice seems to be happy to be third wheel at the moment.

So, hence my question - can cockatiels sense what gender another cockatiel is, or has Pavel latched onto the lack of bright cheeks and automatically assumed that Lorenzo is a girl?

I’ll get some pictures up of Lorenzo soon - whatever sex it is, it is a beautiful bird!

 

[Ripshod]

Even with a female around male/male bonding is perfectly normal. Things may get interesting later though. Even if Lorenzo does prove to be a girl you'll still have two of one gender and one of the other. Quite a sticky situation in maturing birds, even more so in Cockatiels.

 

[Monica]

Agreed.... the new one could be a male! In regular whiteface mutations, the females will have a dull grey face and males will have a bright white face. This isn't necessarily true with pied, Ino or pearl mutations though... (and perhaps some others)

Would love to see pics!!!

 

[SMS00]

Lorenzo is still quite camera shy, but is taking millet from our hands quite happily, and is by far the most chilled out of the three. She loves a spinach leaf or two, and Pavel continues to chat her/him up at every opportunity. Haven’t persuaded her into a bath yet (Maurice & Pavel love a bath, but are not keen on showers), so we’ll try a shower for Lorenzo over the weekend.

 

[Mizzely]

I am sure there are ways that cockatiels differentiate gender; many bird species use patches of feathers that react to ultraviolet light that is invisible to us, but like a beacon to other birds! When You’re a Bird, the World Always Looks Psychedelic | Audubon


That being said, I agree with the above comments. Many birds in captivity (cockatiels in particular it seems to me!) tend to not care about gender as much and may react the same regardless of the target of their affection.

 

[Monica]

I am sure there are ways that cockatiels differentiate gender; many bird species use patches of feathers that react to ultraviolet light that is invisible to us, but like a beacon to other birds! When You’re a Bird, the World Always Looks Psychedelic | Audubon


That being said, I agree with the above comments. Many birds in captivity (cockatiels in particular it seems to me!) tend to not care about gender as much and may react the same regardless of the target of their affection.

I don't think the UV light works with blue mutations... although who knows, it might with cockatiels? Even if you had a pair of albino cockatiels (whiteface lutino), male and female, you could tell them apart easily under a black light.

Apparently, even in the wild, they may do the same behaviors... that is, two males may still pair bond and/or attempt to mate with inanimate objects.

 

[Mizzely]

I don't think the UV light works with blue mutations... although who knows, it might with cockatiels? Even if you had a pair of albino cockatiels (whiteface lutino), male and female, you could tell them apart easily under a black light.

Apparently, even in the wild, they may do the same behaviors... that is, two males may still pair bond and/or attempt to mate with inanimate objects.

True, I'm not sure how it works with mutations!

I didn't mean that same gender relationships cannot exist in the wild, but I do think they tend to be more prevalent in captivity (or perhaps just noticed more?)

 

[Monica]

Could be either or really!

In regards to UV light.... a regular or yellow type budgie *glows* under a black light. A blue budgie does not. Then again, they do have the blue/purple cheek patches that are supposed to glow, too... although not all mutations have them.


With cockatiels, it's the same. That said, even an albino hen or young male prior to molting out adolescent feathers will have the barrings and stripes on their wings, rump and flight feathers.


Fascinating stuff!

 

[Ripshod]

Because the human eye can't see UV light we will never see how a parrot sees, and that includes the UV reflected by certain 'hidden' markings they carry.
What you're seeing under blacklight UV is just the way certain colours will react to the UV, you're seeing visible light. It's called phosphorescence and it's how clothes look different in daylight to the way they looked in the shop.
Colors That Glow Under Black Light | eHow
It doesn't matter what light source you use, the human eye will never see UV, just it's effects.

 

[SMS00]

Just a quick gratuitous picture of Pavel & his ladies. It looks like Pavel (middle) is a Pastel face, rather than a straight grey cockatiel as his cheek patches have continued to fade as his yellow starts to come in. He’s DEFINITELY a boy, and is now in a separate cage from the girls, after a couple of mating attempts with Maurice (on the right). Still not sure about Lorenzo (white face, on the left) but she’s showing absolutely no male behaviours as yet, so we are leaning towards female. Either way, they seem to be a happy wee flock!

 

[Monica]

If Pavel is in fact a pastelface (instead of on of the other "cheek" mutations), then you have a normal wild type (Maurice), a par-blue (aka pastelface Pavel) and a blue (aka whiteface Lorenzo) cockatiels! Their yellow and orange colors are "fading".


Cute picture!