The Australian ancestors of our cage-bred cockatiels are of a delicate gray that sometimes was a tint of blue or brown. The upper tail converts are silver-gray; the lower tail-coverts, blackish gray. White feathers on the outer secondarys form a striking band on the wings. Throat, cheeks, and forehead are a bright yellow, against which the deep orange feathers in the ear region show up clearly, forming the so-called cheek below the black eyes. The feathers of the crest rise up and down from the cockatiel's forehead. The shorter ones forming the front of the crest are yellow; the longer back ones are gray like the crown but have pale yellow puffs mixing with the gray. A fine line of gray feathers runs from the brownish gray cere above the strong, gray beak toward the eyes, cutting across the mask between the bright yellow forehead and the more delicately colored lower half of the face, which becomes white further down.

Color variants created through selective breeding include albinos, lutinos, pieds, pearled cinnamons, silvers, and whiteface. These are only the best known varieties; there are all kinds of combinations of these colors.

More types will be added, if time permits.

>> Albinos
	>> Albinos are white but have a yellow mask and orange cheek patches. The feet are colored of gray variations. The lower tail-coverts are light yellow in males, and bright and shiny yellow in females. Male and female albinos have red eyes, while many white birds while black eyes, are sometimes in cases not albinos.

>>  Lutinos
	>> Lutinos are white, with yellow tints blended on their body feathers. Their eyes are also red, like the albinos, but could also be black.

>> Pieds (Harlequin or Variegated)
	>> Pled (harlequin or variegated) cockatiels have irregular white patched. There are also pleds in different color combos. Some of these birds are gray all over. The mask and cheek spot form a contrast towards the rest of it's body.

>> Cinnamon
	>> Cinnamon (fawn or isabelle) cockatiels have as it's name have a cinnamon brown color.

>> Silver
	>> Silver cockatiels has feathers with lighter brownish gray with a silver dusting, and also have red eyes.

>> White Heads & Charcoals
	>> White Heads or charcoals are cockatiels that have a yellow mask and have a reddish cheek.

Being forewarned is forearmed: All selective bred cockatiels are more prone to disease than natural colored cockatiels. Take these considerations when choosing your cockatiel!