Female parakeets often have white, brown, pink or tan ceres.
Unlike with mammals, it can be hard to distinguish whether a bird is male or female. According to the animal resource website Pet Doc, birds are either dimorphic and monomorphic species. Dimorphic birds can often be visually inspected to determine gender through coloring or behavior, while monomorphic birds, including macaws and cockatoos, are slightly harder to differentiate.
Instructions
1. Examine the bird's cere, which is the fleshy piece that lays over its beak. Certain birds, such as parakeets, have easily distinguishable genders based on their ceres. In males the cere is dark blue, purple or a mixture of both. In females, ceres are often light blue, white, pink, tan or brown.
2. Inspect the color of your bird's plumes. In dimorphic birds, coloring can be an indicator of gender. Males are generally more colorful than females. For example, male zebra finches usually have red bills, orange cheeks, chestnut-colored sides and a black band across the chest, while females have an orange bill and a light gray body with no markings. Male cockatiels have bright yellow faces, orange cheek patches and solid feather coloring, while females have pale yellow or gray faces, with spotting on the underside of their feathers.
3. Analyze behavioral differences in your birds. Male birds usually bob their heads while walking, sing more and act more active and social than female birds. Also, female birds lay eggs and are more active in building nests.
4. Take your bird to a veterinarian for a surgical sex check. During the procedure the vet puts the bird under anesthesia, makes a small opening in the abdomen and inspects your bird's internal sex organs. This process should be a last resort when determining a bird's gender, since it can put a lot of stress on the bird. Also, the procedure should not be done on birds that are under a year old, since sexual organs of very young birds are fully developed yet.
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