# My whiteface tiel - male or female?



## guatemama (Jan 30, 2010)

Just acquired Beaker a couple of weeks ago. He's a whiteface, although there are patches of gray on his head as well (his pic is the one in the middle below). My other tiel is definitely male - whistles several songs, talks, etc. Beaker does "bird calls" - can sound like a quail or cardinal - but even after spending weeks with the other tiel, isn't picking up any of his whistling, which other tiels I've had have done (Willie learned all of his songs/phrases from other birds). So I'm wondering, considering his appearance and lack of whistling (he whistles his bird calls, but not nearly as often as Willie) if Beaker is female. BTW, his tail feathers are not stripped at all - solid dark gray feathers and white feathers. I'm told he's 10 months old. What do you think? Is he a she?


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## Clawsworth (Nov 9, 2009)

Can you post a bigger picture of him? From your sig it looks as if he has started to acquire a white face mask that would indicate he's male, but his behaviour makes him sound female.


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## guatemama (Jan 30, 2010)

Sure - here's a bigger photo (hope this works!)


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## Clawsworth (Nov 9, 2009)

Yeah, he looks like he's moulting in a face mask. You could wait until he goes through another moult to see if his face becomes whiter, or you could look for some other behavioural signs. Does he wolf whistle, do heart wings, or beak bang? I've also read that males are interested in mirrors but females aren't.


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## guatemama (Jan 30, 2010)

Definitely a beak banger, not sure about the heart wings - haven't heard a wolf whistle at all.


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## Clawsworth (Nov 9, 2009)

I've never heard of a female beak banger, but hopefully someone will pop in and correct me if I'm wrong.  I personally think he's male, but maybe someone else would think otherwise; I've never had a male cockatiel so I'm not going from experience here. Good luck figuring it out, and he's beautiful in any case.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Your bird has white feathers on the back of the head and near the tail. This is a sign of a pied split or very light pied-ness. It's possible that your bird is female and this hint of pied is affecting the color of the face mask.

But I'm inclined to think it's a young male switching over to adult plumage. Males get darker as they mature, and it looks like your bird's body feathers are a patchwork of darker and lighter feathers - just like my young males. Is anything happening to the striped feathers on the rump and the bars under the tail? If the new feathers in this area are plain gray then you have a male.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

From your pix he is a whiteface pied. What makes him a pied is that he has some solid white wing flight feathers and a white feather in his tail. In looking at the barring that is on the lower body, some has started to molt out into solid grey feathers, which is an indication he is a male.


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## guatemama (Jan 30, 2010)

Thanks! Sounds like there's basically consensus! I might get a DNA check just to be sure. It's just weird that he's sooo different from my other male - not mimicking at all, even tho they're the same age. He's really pretty tame - don't know why he's so different and quiet.


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## seaofdreams (Dec 29, 2009)

One of my males is very loud and constantly singing while the other barely makes a peep and if I didn't know better, I would think that he was really a hen. I also have a new baby male that has been DNA sexed but his sister is the noisy one and he's very quiet. Sometimes behaviours can be decieving but his appearance suggests male to me.


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## Rocky's Rose (Jun 24, 2008)

Yes noise can be decieving. My guardian has heard my female lunito wolf whistling like my male does.


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## WallyBird (Nov 23, 2009)

Clawsworth said:


> I've never heard of a female beak banger, but hopefully someone will pop in and correct me if I'm wrong.  I personally think he's male, but maybe someone else would think otherwise; I've never had a male cockatiel so I'm not going from experience here. Good luck figuring it out, and he's beautiful in any case.


Hmmm, that's very interesting, cause I'm 98% sure Wally is a female, however she is a beak banger.


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