Photos were contributed to National Cockatiel Society by NCS members for this website. Color In CockatielsThe color in Cockatiels is derived from two pigments: - Melanin - Provides the Grey color in Normals. It is also present in the eyes, beak, and feet. You will notice some cockatiels have darker beaks and feet than others. The Lutino mutation occurs because of a complete lack of melanin. This is why the eyes appear red, from the blood vessels showing, and the feet and beak to be lighter. Melanin is the stronger color and overrides Lipochromes when both are present.
- Lipochromes - These provide the yellow on the face and tail and orange seen in the cheek patch. As males mature the melanin pigments in the face become weaker allowing the Lipochromes to be visable while in the tail the melanin increases in the tail make the tail more of a solid color. The Whiteface Cockatiel lacks Lipochromes, hence the white face with no yellow or orange present which are replaced by white.
|  |  |  |  | | Heavy Pied | Fallow | Recessive Silver Whiteface
| Heavy Pied Whiteface | | | | | |
Recessive Mutations
| To obtain a Recessive mutation baby both parents must have the mutation either visually or split. Hens can be split to a Recessive mutation. Hens cannot be split to a sex-linked mutation. For example to produce Whiteface offspring each parent must at a minimum be split to Whiteface. If one parent contains no Whiteface genes roughly have the offspring will be split to Whiteface but none will visually show it. |
Pied
Pied are basically when the standard body colors are replaced with Yellow or White in varying degrees. When Pieds are judged the degree of symmetry and clarity of markings is important. Ideally, a desirable pied will carry a clear mask, free from extraneous grey or cinnamon feathers or bleeding from the orange cheek patch, clear tail and wing flights and a perfect balance of markings. A pied with dark feathers in the face is called a dirty faced pied. Pied occurs because the levels of melanin are different over the feathers of the bird. It has also been noted that Pieds have a thicker set of feathers which is noticeable in young birds as they feather up.
Pieds appear in three ways: The Light Pied is where most of the bird will be Grey or Cinnamon but some areas of the body are yellow, or white for Whiteface Pieds. Light and medium Grey Pieds - have less than 70% (yellow and/or white) pied wash.
The Heavy Pied is mostly a Yellow or White bird with Grey or Cinnamon still seen on some of the chest and back. Heavy pied is classified as having 70% to 97% (yellow and/or white) pied wash.
Pieds are also known to have thicker feathering over the body also. The nicest are when the chest and face are clear of the darker colors. Some people also call cockatiels with very little Grey or Cinnamon a Reverse Pied. The Clear Pied is 98% or higher (yellow and/or white pied wash. Clear pied looks much like the Lutino but has dark or normally colored eyes and feet. You may see one or two dark feathers on the back. These can be easily confused with Lutinos and are not as common. They have the advantage of not having the bald spot that has occurs with Lutinos. WhitefaceCharcoal grey in color, lacking the orange cheek patch and yellow pigment. The whiteface is lacks all lipochrome pigments. Mature adult males will carry a white face as opposed to the yellow mask worn by other varieties. Some of the nicest combinations are the Whiteface Pearl, Whiteface Cinnamon Pearl, Whiteface Pieds and Whiteface Cinnamon Pieds. A brownish (or light cinnamon) appearance resembling the cinnamon, but with a more pronounced yellow suffusion and red eyes due to less melanin. The Fallow cockatiel has a very similar coloration to that of the Cinnamon cockatiel, but with a slightly diluted depth of color. The fallow has red eyes, a pink beak, and pink feet. Pastel Face Pastel Face is a rather subtle mutation that is rather appropriately named. The pastel face mutation can be combined with just about any other mutation with some beautiful results. Pastel cockatiels look just like their Normal counterpart, except males have a pale lemon face and the cheek patches are pastel peach. The yellows, oranges, browns and grays are softened a bit. Hence the name, pastel. The most obvious difference is the orange cheek patch becomes a yellow-orange. Dilute Dilute is now the preferred name for Olive, Spangled or Emerald. This mutation is hard to describe and has to be seen. The term Emerald or Olive is a bit misleading. Cockatiels do not carry any green pigmentation, so they can't really be green. The combinations of yellow and greys along with the right lighting make these birds sometimes look green. It can best be described as a mottled or combination of small areas with different colors varying from yellows to greys. Recessive Silver The Recessive Silver mutation is a diluted or silvery grey version of the normal grey. The Silver has red eyes, a pink beak, and pink feet. Male Silver cockatiels often have a very deep yellow face and bright orange Cheek Patches at maturity. Female Silver cockatiels will retain their immature coloration and the barring of the underside of the tail. Gold Cheek Same as Normal except has cheek patches that are deep gold. Autosomal Recessive. Split To Pied Birds showing spots on the head, neck, etc. are to be shown under the "Split" or "Any Other Variety" class within that section
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