The Pied cockatiel is the first

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mi ...

cockatiel colour genetics The science of cockatiel colour genetics deals with the heredity of colour variation in the feathers of cockatiels, ''Nymphicus hollandicus''. Colour mutations are a natural but very rare phenomenon that occur in either captivity or the wild. Ab ...

, with a mostly grey to light-yellow and white feathers and orange cheek patches. Pied

cockatiel The cockatiel (; ''Nymphicus hollandicus''), also known as weiro (also spelt weero), or quarrion, is a medium-sized parrot that is a member of its own branch of the cockatoo family endemic to Australia. They are prized as household pets and comp ...

s have large, random blotches of colour on their bodies, after the " normal grey" or "wild type" of a cockatiel's

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

is primarily grey with prominent white flashes on the outer edges of each wing. Bird breeders can breed for certain traits, and they have been breeding for different colour mutations in cockatiels since the 1940s. The pied

was the first cockatiel mutation colour to be established in

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1951. The Pied appeared exactly by the aviaries of "Mr. D. Putman" of

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States. After this first genetic colour mutation the

bird Knew a series of mutations like Lutino cockatiel as second

, first appeared in 1958, White-faced cockatiel (first appeared in 1964), Cinnamon cockatiel, and the Pearled cockatiel which appeared in Germany in 1967 or 1968 and Pastelface cockatiel.

Heavy pied vs Light pied cockatiel

There are two kinds of

pied A piebald or pied animal is one that has a pattern of unpigmented spots (white) on a pigmented background of hair, feathers or scales. Thus a piebald black and white dog is a black dog with white spots. The animal's skin under the white backgro ...

cockatiel colour mutation in this

,"Heavy Pied cockatiels" and "Light Pied cockatiels". the difference between Heavy Pied cockatiel and Light Pied cockatiels, a Light Pied cockatiel should have 10% pied colour (any less and they could indeed be split pied) and a Heavy Pied cockatiel should have more than 75% pied colour. there are many variations of pieds from just a few pied flights and body feathers to a bird that is predominately yellow (or white) with just a few dark feathers, which is sometimes referred to as a "reverse" or "saddleback" pied. if a pied has no dark feathers or 1-2 dark feathers on the face, chest or rump it is referred to as a "clear pied". Clear pieds can often be mistaken for a lutino, the difference between a clear pied and lutino is in their eyes. Lutino's eyes will reflect light back red in both the pupil and the iris, a clear pied will have black pupil and brown iris (if the bird is also cinnamon the pupil will be wine colour while the iris remains brown) Pearl pied

Size and weight

This bird gets up to 12 inches (30 cm) and weighs 3 to 4 ounces.

Sound

All cockatiel colour genetic mutations have the same Tweet. File:Nymphicus hollandicus call.ogg

References

External links

Cockatiels - National Cockatiel SocietyCockatiel Information Forum and Bulletin Board
- Talk Cockatiels
Videos, images and sounds
- Internet Bird Collection {{Cockatoos Calyptorhynchinae Cockatiel Cockatiel colour mutations Domesticated birds Talking birds

Heavy pied vs Light pied cockatiel

Size and weight

Sound

See also

References

External links