Description: The
male Normal Grey cockatiel has grey body, wings and tail with a white wing
patch, yellow head, bright orange cheek patch and yellow to grey feathered
crest. The beak is a dark grey. The face of the female is grey with orange cheek
patch and their tails have striated markings. There are many pattern mutations
in cockatiels, including pied, lutino, white-faced, pearl, cinnamon and
combinations of these. It is impossible to visually sex these colour varieties,
as you can with the normals.
Care:
As with any parrot, buy the
biggest cage you can, being careful that bars are spaced ? to ? inches apart.
Each day cage paper should be changed ,dishes should be replaced, as should food
and water, and grate, bars and toys should be kept free of feces and food. These
small parrots like toys with beads, bells and leather that they can untie.
?Tiels need to be out of the cage each day for at least a couple hours,
interacting with you. Give your bird 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.
A cockatiel?s diet should consist of pellets, seed, veggies, whole grain
products and some fruit. They can be misted frequently or some prefer a shallow
bowl for a bath. Give your ?tiel a place to play other than his cage (play gym
or tree)
Pet Qualities:
If properly
socialized as babies, cockatiels make loving companions. Their vocalizations are
quiet enough for them to be good apartment pets. They are very inquisitive, and
need to be watched closely when out of cage, to avoid trouble. As with all
parrots, they may challenge you when coming into sexual maturity, but if trained
as babies, this period will be short-lived. These little parrots are greatly
under-estimated as wonderful, funny, social comp
African Greys
a
Timneh Grey ( Psittacus Erithacus Timneh )
Congo: (Psittacus Erithacus Erithacus )
The African Grey parrot is native to Africa and is a medium sized parrot that is predominantly grey in colour with some white. Their grey colours are a combination of light and dark greys and their tail feathers are red or maroon depending on the sub-species.
Along with the beautiful and majestic appearance, the African Grey parrot is considered one of the most intelligent birds. Hence "Brains and Beauty".In the wild greys feed primarily on nuts and fruit and some leafy vegetation.
The main differences between the Congo and the Timneh are their size, colouring and the colour of their upper mandible. Most would agree that their dispositions and intelligence are the same.
The Timneh is dark grey with a maroon tail and the Congo is a lighter grey with a bright red tail. The CAG's mandible is all black, while the TAG has a bone-coloured upper mandible.
The CAG weighs in at between 400 and 600 grams and the TAG between 275 and 350 grams. Although not commonly kept as pets, Princeps is another sub-species, found only on Principe Island (Ilha do Principe), part of the Republic of Saő Tomé and Principe in the Gulf of Guinea.
The Princeps is darker than a CAG, but otherwise almost identical. There
is some debate about whether the Princeps is indeed a separate sub-species.
Note: Other names known for african greys are Cameroon and Silver Greys .. these are in fact Congos that have been given another name.
The Latin name Psittacus Erithacus means "Parrot with a little bit of red".......
Intelligence.
Most would agree that the African Grey is emotionally equivalent to a two year old child with the intelligence of a five year old child. This level of intelligence makes the grey a very demanding parrot that requires a great deal of attention and patience.