If you are looking for a single cockatiel, you don't have to worry about the bird's sex. Young males and females adust to every day life with people and eventually become tame, by being whistled or talked to. However, if you hope for babies from your prospected birds, you should get advice from an experienced breeder, or pet store dealer to be sure that the two birds you get is one male and one female.
Sexing young cockatiels is something a experience bird owner or breeder or pet dealer should do. Before post-juvenile molt, the orange cheek patch of the male is no brighter that the female and the characteristic markings on the under tail converts of the female haven't shown up.
Sexing adult cockatiels, that is that birds have pass thourgh pre-juvenile molt (9 months), presents no difficulty. The plummage gives a clear indication of a bird's sex. The contrasting colors are paler for females that the male. The cheek spot and the mask, that is the facial areas that stand out from the gray color, look, in females, as dusted with a brownish powder, and have yellow and black under-tail coverts, and there is some yellowish white on the rims of the outer tail feathers, which are all gray on males.
<-- Back to the Bird care info switchboard
