Help determining gender

Okay, so I might be blind here, but for whatever reason I can't determine the gender of my other parrotlet. I was told I had a male and female but I never really thought about it until recently with the passing of Olive whom I'm positive was female. Is it possible that both are in fact female? That would definitely explain the abundance of infertile eggs going around. I also just want to confirm that he(she?) is a Pacific Parrotlet, and not any subspecies just in case I'm totally off in determining gender. Since Olive's passing, I can't really compare the two anymore. I'm not looking to breed them so if I look for another rescue, I don't want to end up with the wrong gender!

I have a few pictures, the first is of them on the day they arrived to me about a year ago, a few minutes after I brought them in. They were apparently currently sitting on eggs so I left the nest box during that time.


And these three pictures I took tonight, with whom I assumed was male, in the same cage as they came in, under quarantine for a few days, and also while I clean and sanitize what was their regular cage, just in case there was any infection present. Lighting is full spectrum so colors should be pretty accurate.

you're not blind, it's impossible to tell their gender visually!

the only ways to tell their gender is if an egg pops out which could happen after years, or with a DNA test which are fairly cheap

LordTriggs said:

you're not blind, it's impossible to tell their gender visually!

the only ways to tell their gender is if an egg pops out which could happen after years, or with a DNA test which are fairly cheap

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Most species of parrotlet are sexually dimorphic so you can tell them apart visually, I'm just having trouble because it's a species I'm not very familiar with. A few other species are also sexually dimorphic, like eclectus. Most of my others I've been able to determine by behavior alone (and have been accurate so far) but with species I haven't had much experience with, I'm at a loss!

If I had the cash at the moment I'd do a DNA to be absolutely sure but unfortunately I'm pretty spent at the moment from vet bills.

They both look like females.

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I don't know if this is true AT ALL! but the adage is a more rounded head is female and a flatter head is male. In that regard I'd say both are female? But that's like folk wisdom, A vet can do a pelvic examination or DNA test and tell you for sure.

Aquila said:

LordTriggs said:

you're not blind, it's impossible to tell their gender visually!

the only ways to tell their gender is if an egg pops out which could happen after years, or with a DNA test which are fairly cheap

Click to expand...

Most species of parrotlet are sexually dimorphic so you can tell them apart visually, I'm just having trouble because it's a species I'm not very familiar with. A few other species are also sexually dimorphic, like eclectus. Most of my others I've been able to determine by behavior alone (and have been accurate so far) but with species I haven't had much experience with, I'm at a loss!

If I had the cash at the moment I'd do a DNA to be absolutely sure but unfortunately I'm pretty spent at the moment from vet bills.

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huh. Looks like the person I spoke to about it was wrong/mis-informed then. They said that you couldn't tell with parrotlets by looking

From what I understand, a male should have more cobalt on the body and rump area, as well as under the wings, but I've seen quite a bit of variation in this. I've seen more subtle coloring and some more obvious. This is an example of a male I've found on Google.



And this one from Wikipedia.


This is a side by side comparison from Google as well.


So all this leads me to believe female, but I was hoping someone with more experience might be able to give me a more definitive answer before I have to end up going with DNA to confirm.

I breed parrotlets, and they both look like Pacific females to me. In some mutations, the rump color is not always prominate, although with their coloring it should be if either were males. However, even if the rump color wasn't prominate, their flights should show the bright cobalt blue in a male. It would be obvious as they flew around their cage even, the color is striking.

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OutlawedSpirit said:

I breed parrotlets, and they both look like Pacific females to me. In some mutations, the rump color is not always prominate, although with their coloring it should be if either were males. However, even if the rump color wasn't prominate, their flights should show the bright cobalt blue in a male. It would be obvious as they flew around their cage even, the color is striking.

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Thank you, I was hoping you'd respond. I was concerned they might be green rump and I was looking in all the wrong places for markings and such. I'll try to get a picture of the wings and rump but if memory serves me correctly there isn't any striking color.

I've been looking at rescues and I saw a pair of females semi locally who aren't tame and similar in age, so I'm seriously considering them for a small flock environment.

LordTriggs said:

huh. Looks like the person I spoke to about it was wrong/mis-informed then. They said that you couldn't tell with parrotlets by looking

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Yep. Most parrot species can't be sexed by sight; parrotlets can.


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This link to a facebook post shows the wing color pretty well if you scroll through the few pics on the post. Sorry, I know everyone hates links, but I couldn't get myself to steal her pics!

https://www.facebook.com/pied105/photos/pcb.1233211850156338/1233211793489677/?type=3&theater

The green rump parrotlet, to my knowledge, does not have the blue markings running behind the eyes like the Pacific parrotlets, which I see on your girls as well.

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