Outwardly, most parrots will look the same whether they are male or female. The biggest exception being the Eclectus, where the males are green and red, and the females are red and purple. Other times, birds have to be a certain age before changes are apparent, like parakeet cere color, the rings of the aptly named Ringnecks, Red Bellied parrots, and more. The previous examples are fairly straight forward, but other species can be much more subtle, even impossible to determine visually. Stories are abound of cute little “Sam” laying eggs and ending up a “Samantha”.
How does one tell male from female?
DNA testing is considered the most common method, as well as the safest and least intrusive.
Does gender matter?
Knowing your birds’ gender is most important if you plan on breeding in order to find an appropriate mate. Knowing if a bird is a female can also help to determine if calcium should be supplemented if it happens to lay eggs. Sometimes, it’s just fun to know, or for naming purposes.
The better gender?
This topic is debatable. For some of the smaller birds, gender may matter: male canaries and male finches will be the singers. In parakeets and cockatiels, although females can learn, males are more likely to be capable of talking and whistling. In most parrots though, both males and females can learn to talk and mimic equally. As far as personality and “tameness”, that depends on the individual bird and how it is handled and trained.