Unlike other parakeets, Cockatiels do not have any other subspecies, but they do have many Cockatiel color mutations! There are many breeders and bird enthusiasts who tried many times to create different color mutations that make a cockatoo unique.
These birds are available in different colors, so even a first-time pet owner like you or someone who had pet birds before can still be overwhelmed by the variety of mutations these species have!
Below 10 are the most popular color mutations of a Cockatiel, you can use this as a reference if you plan to buy a Cockatiel but don’t know what color to choose or it can also help you create your own color mutation in the future! Who knows? You could find something much more unique and beautiful with these birds!
1. Pied Color Cockatiel
These cockatiels have darker eyes and lighter legs compared to normal gray ones. Some of the pied-colored cockatoos also have a dark talon or an entire toe. Pied colors have different degrees of heaviness, they are original, light, and heavy.
A light pied is a cockatoo that lacks all the melanin of its feathers, a pied has dark eyes, compared to lutinos which are red eyes.
An ordinary pie has light areas of white or yellow, with flashes of gray in some areas, on the other hand, a heavy pied carries a lot of melanin-free areas, which is about 75% of its feathers, while a light pied is dark and it has only one pair of flight feather or tail which is usually quite close to gray.
2. Pearl Cockatiel
The pearl color pattern should not be missing in any melanin area on the back of a cockatiel and it should also be thick and clear. The bright yellow pearl is admired and the gray parts should be distinctly dark.
3. Cinnamon Cockatiel
Cinnamon has a slightly cooler hue. The color varies depending on the amount of yellow under the melanin coating. The cinnamon-colored cockatiel also has more beige legs and beak, while the fallow has red eyes and pinkish beak and legs.
4. Whiteface Cockatiel
Actually, the color is caused by the “blue” mutation. All red and yellow tones will be completely lacking because the blue color affects the psittacid pigment reducing it. This means that everything that should be yellow or red will appear white.
5. Paleface Cockatiel
The pale face, also known as the pastel face, is still the wild-type gray, but the psittacid pigments are reduced, making all the red and yellow tones much paler. This also means the body of the cockatiel, for example, the yellow tail bars, the crest, and all the parts where yellow can be found.
6. Cream Face Cockatiel
It reminds a kind of in-between of the white face and the pastel face since in the almost white facemask there is a very pale and warm cheek patch. The cream face is a very beautiful color and has a lighter shade of white than the pastel face, where the mutation affects the yellow and red pigments.
7. Golden Cheek Cockatiel
This color has a high early chick mortality rate and is said to be lousy parents, especially hens that appear to be lazy both in brooding and caring for chicks. The golden cheek is described to be reminiscent of the yellow cheek, but the cheek color has a stronger contrast. Golden-cheeked female cockatiels are told to exhibit rooster-like behavior more easily.
8. Olive Cockatiel
The olive color has light gray feathers with a greenish appearance caused by a yellow tinge. The mutation can also occur in a brownish mustard hue or nearly-making. It should be noted that the olive loses the green to connect with the white face, but the feathers are beautiful patterns.
9. Platinum Cockatiel
Platinum is identified as a boy with dark plum or reddish eyes, which generally begin to appear around ten days of age, the shades have more than one. The body would not be very irregular, but the color would be uniform. It is typical for the flight feathers and platinum tails to be a little darker than the other body. Platinum-colored cockatiel’s legs and the beak are light beige.
10. Lutino Cockatiel
Lutino is also known as Ino. Ino result is an albino and lutino. It affects the blades, but also the eyes and skin. The cockatiel’s color works very similarly to other parrots: the green variability bird Ino turns yellow; The blue cockatiel corresponding to the shape of the face is white, that is, in other words, the ordinary becomes a lutino cockatiel and white rose of an albino cockatiel, a white face lutino.