 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
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 is a rather subtle mutation that is rather appropriately named. The pastel mutation can be combined
with just about any other mutation with some beautiful results. Pastel cockatiels look just like their normal counterpart,
but 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.
It is also called Olive, Spangled or Suffused Yellow. This mutation is hard to describe and has to be
seen. The term Emerald or Olive is a bit misleading though. 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
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
Dominant mutations are unique in that it requires only one of the parents to produce the mutation in their
offspring. For example if you have a Dominant Yellow Cheek hen you will get a percentage of either male and/or female
Dominant Yellow Cheek babies. For Sex-linked Yellow Cheek you must have Sex-Linked Yellow Cheek in both the male and
female to get male Sex-Linked Yellow Cheek babies. A bird cannot be split to a dominant mutation. You either see
it or you don't. A single factor dominant bird has one X chromosome containing the mutation. A double factor dominant
has two X chromosomes, hence only males can be double factor.
Dominant Silver is a mutation that is dominant to other mutations to produce a silver or light grey. The most
obvious difference between the Dominant and the Recessive is the the Dominant has dark eyes verses the red eyes of the recessive.
The birds can carry the dominant gene on one or both chromosomes, with the coloring effect being more pronounced in double-factored
birds. When the dominant silver gene is carried on one chromosome, it is single-factored and the single factored is darker.
When Dominant Silver gene carried on both chromosomes, it is double-factored and is a lighter grey.
Dominant Yellow Cheek
The Dominant Yellow Cheek is very similar to the Sex-Linked Yellow Cheek. Personal observations of the
ones I have seen is that the Dominant Yellow Cheeks has a slight orange tinge, possibly due to a double factor, to it but
lighter than the yellow-orange of a Pastel's cheek patch. Single factor cheek patches are yellow.
The Normal Grey is the what all other mutations are derived from and is the Normal Grey Cockatiel seen in
the wilds of Australia. The male Normal Grey has dark grey feathers over his entire body, excluding the white wing bars,
yellow face, and bright orange cheek patches. Young Normal Grey Cockatiels of both sexes look a lot like female Normal
Greys. The face is Grey with dull orange cheek patches along with tail feathers that have a white or yellow barring on the
underside. If you see a few white or yellow feathers on the back of your normal grey cockatiel's neck and head, sometimes
called ticking, that it means that your cockatiel is split to the recessive mutation Pied.