Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Holland America Veendam Male Parakeet "Visa" 

Not many species of parrots are dimorphic, meaning you can tell the difference in gender by their outer appearance or colors. For example, mallard ducks – the males are colorful and beautiful while the females are bland and brown.  Parakeets are also dimorphic by the color of their cere.  

Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Holland America Veendam Female Parakeet "Lexi"  

Male parakeets have generally blue or purple colored ceres while females have dark pink or brown colored ceres. Most parakeets look the same with colorful ceres while they are young and then they begin to go one way or the other as they mature. For training purposes, I prefer working with males (though I’ve had success with both genders). I’ve found a majority of male parakeets are less nippy; they don’t like to chew as much as the females and they aren’t as vocal. Currently, I have two male parakeets (Visa and Nikko) and one female (Lexi). Lexi has been used on numerous training videos, photos and courses as she is a little star with trick training and various behaviors. Nikko is a great flyer but a very slow eater which makes it hard to train with him on anything while Visa is return flight trained.

Article by Jamieleigh Womach. She has been working with parrots and toucans since the age of 17. She isn’t homeless but is home less than she prefers to be. She travels the world with her husband, daughter, and a flockful of parrots whom she shares the stage with.