Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, i have a 5.5 month old cockatiel. The good news is that yesterday he got on his perch for the first time since i got him. My question is: Sometimes when he (too young to sex actually) gets excited and starts to play he will do a little muffled "singing" and then bang his beak against his perch. It looks goofy but i'm a little worried he's going to hurt himself. Is this normal cockatiel play behaviour?
Thank you.

I haven't seen many of our cockatiels do this but they are usually older birds that we get in. On the other hand our sun conures of all ages seem to do that. They will chirp, scream, etc and then bang their beaks on the cage, perch, or whatever is nearest. So I am guessing that this is completely normal behavior. All of ours that have done it have had vet checks and were completely healthy.

If he is doing something besides the beak banging, like not eating, breathing hard, wheezing, fecal changes etc then it would be time to worry.

Good luck with your new feathered friend!

He's fine, that means you have a male!!! Thats good news, now you know the sex!! I have 2 males and 3 females, good luck.
I also breed my tiels, one pair is about to lay eggs!! Well If you need to ask questions, feel free too!!
Melissa and my 5 cockatiels

I do not know how this tells sexes in cockatiels but the two sun conures we have in right now that do this have both been DNA sexed as females. I hadn't heard of this behavior as being sex linked and know that at least in most species it is a form of play, social interaction or even just beak cleaning, etc and in no way linked to sex.

i'm very new to birds. i owned finches for 10 years but they aren't really a domesticated bird. i've only owned a cockatiel for 2 months now. I have a normal grey and from what i've heard when it molts in a month or two into it's adult feathers i should know if it's a male or female. I know nothing of this beak pounding behaviour except that my bird is quite energetic in engaging in this action and i wasn't sure what it meant. I wouldn't mind having a boy, no eggs to deal with since i'm not planning on breeding . Thank y'all for your responses. i'll follow up in a couple months and let y'all know what the molt shows as far as sex. good luck Melissa with ur eggs!