Cockatiel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Common Cockatiels
A wild cockatiel
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Psittaciformes Family: Cacatuidae Subfamily: Calyptorhynchinae Genus: Nymphicus Wagler, 1832 Species: N. hollandicus
Binomial name
Nymphicus hollandicus (Kerr, 1792)
Cockatiel range (in red; all-year resident)
Synonyms
Psittacus hollandicus Kerr, 1792 Leptolophus hollandicus

The Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus) is a diminutive cockatoo endemic to Australia and prized as a household pet.

Cockatiels are native to Australia and are considered the smallest of the cockatoo family. These sweet-tempered birds are valued throughout the world as pets due to their gentle and sociable nature.

Contents 1 Description 2 Biology 3 Cockatiels as Pets 4 Colour Mutations 5 Breeding 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Description

The Cockatiel (also recognised as the Quarrion and the Weero) is a small parrot relating to both the Psittacidae and the Cacatuidae families. Like other cockatoos, as for example the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, the cockatiel has an erectable crest. Cockatiels and cockatoos in general also share other features, such as the facial feathers covering the sides of the beak, which are rarely - if ever - found outside the Cacatuidae family. In contrast to most cockatoos, the cockatiel has long tail feathers, roughly making up half of its total length. These birds originate from the outback regions of inland Australia, and favor the Australian wetlands, scrublands, and bush lands. The cockatiel's distinctive pointed yellow crest is held erect when startled or excited, while a crest slightly tilted indicates a relaxed state of mind.

The plumage is generally mid-grey, lighter underneath, with an almost perfectly round orange patch of feathers covering the ear opening (usually referred to as a "cheek patch") and a prominent white blaze on the wings. A row of yellowish spots can be found underneath the wings of female cockatiels, but not on the males. Some other mutations exist, such as the Lutino, which lacks black and grey colour, being a light yellow colour overall. Female Lutinos also have barred tail feathers. Both the cock and the hen have yellow facial feathers: the female has a yellow wash around the beak and eye, in the male, yellow covers most of the head and the fore part of the crest. Male cockatiels are very protective and nurturing of their offspring and are known to be very capable of raising their newborns if the mother is unable to.

Cockatiel lifespans in captivity are generally given as 10-30 years,^[1] though it is sometimes given as short as 5-10 years^[2] and there are anecdotes of cockatiels living as long as 30 years, the oldest reported being 36 years old when it died.^[3]

[edit] Biology

This is the only species in its genus Nymphicus. Its relationships were long disputed; it was usually placed into a monotypic subfamily Nymphicinae or even allied with the broad-tailed parrots. But while most other cockatoos are 500 mm to 600 mm in length, cockatiels are normally 300 mm to 330 mm. There are, however, several significant characteristics that cockatiels share with cockatoos, including an erectile crest, a gallbladder, and powder down patches.

Mitochondrial 12S rRNA sequence data^[4] has finally resolved the question of its affinities by placing it closest to the "dark cockatoos" of the genus Calyptorhynchus. The unusual, parakeet-like appearance is a consequence of the decrease in size and accompanying change of ecological niche. In spite of all its unique adaptations, features such as the dark plumage, the barred feathers of the female and the orange cheek patch are clear morphological indications of its affinities. Sequence analysis of intron 7 of the nuclear β-fibrinogen gene, on the other hand, indicates that it may be as distinct yet as to warrant recognition of the Nymphicinae rather than inclusion of the genus in the Calyptorhynchinae.^[5]

The cockatiel's scientific name Nymphicus hollandicus reflects the experience of one of the earliest groups of Europeans to see cockatiels in their native habitat. Travellers thought they were so beautiful that they named them after the mythical creatures, the nymphs (Nymphicus means literally "little nymph"). The species name refers to New Holland, an old name for Australia.

Cockatiels are native only to Australia where they are found largely in arid or semi-arid country, but always near water. Sometimes hundreds will flock around a single such body of water. To farmers' dismay, they often eat cultivated crops. They are absent from the most fertile southwest and southeast corners of the country, the deepest Western Australian deserts, and Cape York Peninsula. They are the only cockatoo species that can breed in their first year.

[edit] Cockatiels as Pets

Cockatiels, along with the budgerigar, are among the most popular pet bird species. Today all pet cockatiels are bred in captivity, as Australia no longer permits the export of native wildlife, whether endangered or not^[specify]. Pet cockatiels have been bred to have many different colourations (called mutations). Mutations include lutino, pearl, cinnamon, pied, fallow, recessive and dominant silver, whiteface, pastelface, yellowcheek, and olive or 'spangled.' They are prized house pets.

Cockatiels can form strong bonds with their owners^[specify]. Otherwise quiet birds will frequently make contact calls with their owners, calls that sometimes can be quite loud if the person is out of sight. The cockatiel can grow so attached to its owner that it may try to 'protect' the owner from anyone that tries to come near it by biting or hissing^[specify]Cockatiels must be acquainted with the entire family, in order to assure even temperament toward all. A scared 'tiel will choose flight over fight most of the time, thus creating a chance for injury (i.e. flying into a glass door). Their popularity as pets is in part because of their calm and timid temperament, to the point that they can even be bullied by smaller but more confident birds such as Budgerigars^{[citation needed]}. Great care and supervision should be provided when mixing cockatiels with other birds^{[citation needed]}. It is not uncommon at all for a larger or smaller bird to maim the cockatiel, creating life-long disabilities and potentially life threatening injuries. However, some cockatiels can "scrap".^{[citation needed]}

Although cockatiels are part of the parrot order, they are better at imitating whistles than speech^[specify]. Some do learn to repeat phrases, and the males are generally better at mimicry than the females^[specify]Cockatiel speech, often comes out as a "whistle", when they do annunciate, the voice is very soft and hard to make out. Cockatiels can mimic many sounds, for example the bleep of a car alarm, a ringing telephone, or the calls of other bird species such as blue jays or chickadees and loud weather like thunder.

[edit] Colour Mutations

In the wild, cockatiels are naturally grey with white wing patches and yellow and orange on their heads. Colour mutations are desirable for show and some owners, however a number of these are sex-linked and/or recessive. For example, the lutino mutation is such that the individual does not produce melatonin, resulting in a phenotype of no grey coloration upon the body. The genotype is XL Y (female cockatiel with lutino gene linked to the male chromosome X) or XL XL (male cockatiel with lutino linked to both male chromosomes). Male cockatiels with a genotype of XL X carry the lutino gene, but do not express it and will appear normal grey.^[6] (Note that in birds, XY denotes female, while XX is male; some ornithologists use different letters such as ZW for female and ZZ for male.)Lutinos are known for having a "bald patch", directly below their crest.

Mutations can appear both individually or in a wide variety of combinations such as lutino pearl, whiteface pied, lutino pied and whiteface lutino (which is often called albino, but is not a true form of albinism). Still fairly hard to find is the rather new 'olive' mutation^{[citation needed]}. An olive cockatiel does not actually have green pigment to its plumage, but rather an overlapping pattern of yellow and grey that create the illusion of a greenish cast.

Many mutations retain the black eyes, beak, nails and grey feet of the normal grey cockatiels, however the lutino, cinnamon and fallow mutations have pink to deep plum red eyes, pink toenails and feet, and a horn coloured beak. While most mutations persist into adulthood for all cockatiels, certain mutations like pearl are molted out in the males and retained in the adult females. Sex-linked mutations such as lutino and cinnamon have a higher ratio of female offspring to male due to the mode of inheritance from parents to offspring^[specify]. Some, very rare mutations manage to change the eye colour of the bird to ruby red, however this is very rare and very few professionals can boast accomplishing this^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Breeding

Cockatiels are a popular choice for amateur parrot breeding along with budgerigars. This is due to both the easiness of getting the birds to breed and the fairly low cost of the equipment needed.

Generally a clutch consists of 5-7 eggs, each approximately the size of one's thumbnail. Eggs are laid once every two days and incubate for about 3 weeks. Hatchings are weaned in 4 weeks, and can fly around 2 months. Maturity is reached at 9 months, but most will not be ready for raising young for several more months.^[7]

Some female cockatiels also lay eggs without fertilization (as do chickens; both infertile). In this case, the owner should just leave the eggs alone until the bird stops sitting on them, after which the eggs can be removed. To prevent laying, one can keep the cockatiel in more darkness per day, such as by covering it up for the night earlier and leaving it covered longer in the morning.

[edit] See also

• Whiteface Lutino Cockatiel
• Parrot harness

[edit] Notes

1. ^ cockatielcottage.net
2. ^ letstalkbirds.com
3. ^ Petlovers.com
4. ^ Brown, D.M. & Toft, C.A. (1999): Molecular systematics and biogeography of the cockatoos (Psittaciformes: Cacatuidae). Auk 116(1): 141-157.
5. ^ Astuti, Dwi (2004?): A phylogeny of cockatoos (Aves: Psittaciformes) inferred from DNA sequences of the seventh intron of nuclear β-fibrinogen gene. Doctoral work, Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Japan.
6. ^ Kiesewetter, Cynthia. Cockatiel Genetics for the Beginning Breeder: The Albino Cockatiel. http://www.upatsix.com/fyi/tiel_genetics.htm Viewed Feb 5 2007.
7. ^ Cockatiels.org

[edit] References

• Astuti, Dwi (2004?): A phylogeny of cockatoos (Aves: Psittaciformes) inferred from DNA sequences of the seventh intron of nuclear β-fibrinogen gene. Doctoral work, Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Japan. PDF fulltext

• BirdLife International (2004). Nymphicus hollandicus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 06 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

• Brown, D.M. & Toft, C.A. (1999): Molecular systematics and biogeography of the cockatoos (Psittaciformes: Cacatuidae). Auk 116(1): 141-157.

• Flegg, Jim (2002): Photographic Field Guide: Birds of Australia. Reed New Holland, Sydney & London. ISBN 1-876334-78-9

[edit] External links

Cockatiels at the Open Directory Project (suggest site)