A Simple Guide to the Types of Cockatiels

The cuddly cockatiel is as beloved for its good nature as it is for its punk-rocker haircut. But though cockatiels come in a wide range of colors, or "mutations," there actually is only one type of cockatiel. Whatever the mutation, cockatiels are popular pets and treasured companions around the world.

  1. Normal Grey

    • Normal grey is the natural color of wild cockatiels. An adult male has a dark grey body with a white stripe on each wing, a bright yellow face and crest, and an orange cheek spot. Females and young normals have the same grey bodies and white wing stripes as adult males, but the yellows and oranges are much paler.

    Cinnamon and Fallow

    • Cinnamons can be described identically to normal greys, except that cinnamon bodies are a pale, dusty silver-brown. Some appear light grey with brown overtones, others appear more brown. Fallows look almost identical to cinnamons, except their brown tones tends toward the yellow. They're considered a rare mutation of the cinnamon.

    Lutino and Albino

    • Lutinos can range from buttercup yellow to snowy white. Males and females all have the same coloration and markings, though immature lutinos often have barred tails that adult males occasionally keep. Whatever shade, a lutino will always have a bright yellow head and bright orange cheek spots. Albino cockatiels do not technically exist, but are, rather, are a mutation of lutinos.

    Pearl

    • Pearl cockatiels have patterned feathers, every one of which has the white-yellow spotting that makes pearls look speckled.Some have heavy lacy patterns, while others have only light spotting. Sometimes the patterns are more concentrated over the back and wings; other times the markings cover the whole body evenly. Most males lose the speckling effect over time, but females retain it.

    Pied

    • Pied cockatiels have white or yellow patches spattered about their bodies with no set pattern. This is a recessive trait, meaning the pied gene can be carried by a parent that is not pied itself. There are further mutations among pieds, including the heavy pied, which is mostly yellow and no more than 25 percent dark grey; whiteface heavy pieds, which look like heavy pieds except for a white head; and light pieds, which are more than 25 percent grey.

    Whiteface

    • Whiteface cockatiels cannot produce yellow or red pigmentation. The male whiteface has charcoal-colored body feathers and a bright white face, while the female retains the grey face and barred tail pattern of immature whitefaces.

    Rarer Mutations

    • Much less common cockatiel mutations include the platinum, which is a pale, smoky grey with a yellow head and bright cheek patch; the pastelface, which is a whiteface with softer pastel tones in yellows and oranges; the creamface, which sports even softer colors than the pastelface; the spangle, which has a striated, shaded appearance; the pewter, which looks like a darker brown/grey version of the cinnamon; and the emerald, whose greenish cast is actually a trick of the eye. The yellow undertone over its grey feathers cause it to appear green, but cockatiels cannot grow green feathers.