# Not whistling male cockatiel?



## BirdySweet (Jul 9, 2011)

I'm starting to have second thoughts on my bird's gender. Really because he doesn't whistle or sing. I mean when I turn on a recording of a bird sqeaking, whsitling,etc. he tries to mimic it but only responds with his "peeps" or squeaks. He's actually did like a half a second of whislting a couple times but that's about it. Or maybe does this mean that I have to be patient and just wait for him to finally whistle? And what are barring marking on a tiel's tail feather. I think I've heard that if a tiel does have it, it's considered female.


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## lisaowens (Oct 17, 2011)

if the tiel has had it's first molt and there is barring on the tail it is female and if it has spots under the wing it is a girl. some mutations are hard to identify boy and girl using this method i have two girls and one boy. my girls are sisters angel is pearl pied and sparkles is pied with just a few pearls. tweety is a cinnamon pied he is the loudest of my three


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

He could just be a quiet boy Have you tried giving him some time in front of a mirror, I know when my boy first started singing it was into a mirror. 

Your tiel is definately a boy I went back and looked over the thread about his gender and mutation. Tail bars are horizontal stripes on their gray tail feathers, all young birds have tail bars and then males molt them out and females keep them, though pied males can sometimes keep their tail bars longer than other mutation males.

Heres a picture of tail bars, found at (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_M7OxfZW7zp8/S-8HCcLmm0I/AAAAAAAAAX0/wiiytGcTB28/s1600/cockatiels1.jpg)


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## BirdySweet (Jul 9, 2011)

xoxsarahxox said:


> He could just be a quiet boy Have you tried giving him some time in front of a mirror, I know when my boy first started singing it was into a mirror.
> 
> Your tiel is definately a boy I went back and looked over the thread about his gender and mutation. Tail bars are horizontal stripes on their gray tail feathers, all young birds have tail bars and then males molt them out and females keep them, though pied males can sometimes keep their tail bars longer than other mutation males.
> 
> Heres a picture of tail bars, found at (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_M7OxfZW7zp8/S-8HCcLmm0I/AAAAAAAAAX0/wiiytGcTB28/s1600/cockatiels1.jpg)


I've put him in front of the mirror plenty of times. The first time, he was interested but then he quickly got bored of it.  Thanks for the info! The pic really helped me with understanding this. Now I know for a GUARANTEE he's a boy. Before when I posted that thread I still didn't understand some things afterwards. I just didn't wanna keep asking and annoying the heck out of you guys.


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## Cockatiel Fam (Oct 27, 2020)

xoxsarahxox said:


> He could just be a quiet boy Have you tried giving him some time in front of a mirror, I know when my boy first started singing it was into a mirror.
> 
> Your tiel is definately a boy I went back and looked over the thread about his gender and mutation. Tail bars are horizontal stripes on their gray tail feathers, all young birds have tail bars and then males molt them out and females keep them, though pied males can sometimes keep their tail bars longer than other mutation males.
> 
> Heres a picture of tail bars, found at (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_M7OxfZW7zp8/S-8HCcLmm0I/AAAAAAAAAX0/wiiytGcTB28/s1600/cockatiels1.jpg)


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## Cockatiel Fam (Oct 27, 2020)

I have 2 yellow faced white cockatiel. One of it is Male and other is Female. But am not getting which one of it is male and female. Please help me with this


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