Bird gender and getting her to drink

[halogen]

I recently purchased a bird from a local place, and I'm not certain if it is actualy a she. The cheek patches are muted, and she's sixteen weeks old, has no yellow on her face. But she is almost constantly making noise, and she's taught herself how to wolf whistle (my brother whistles like that around the house). She's always chittering, whistling, and everything inbetween. So, I'm wondering if she's actually a male, or just a really vocal female?

Additionally, she won't drink from her dish. It's identical to her food dish, with a perch in front of it for her to sit on while she eats/drinks. She won't sit on it, though, and although she will eat, she refuses to drink from her bowl. She splashed herself with the water in it accidentally, so I'm not sure if she regards it as non-drinking water or some such. I've had her for three days now. I've just been syringe-feeding her water. She drinks about 2mL, twice a day. How should I let her know that she can drink the water, or that it isn't for bathing/playing with?

 

[Kalidasa]

If he knows the water is there, you don't need to syringe feed water. He's probably used to drinking it from a water bottle. A dish is fine as long as its clean, the best way to ensure that is to make sure there is not a bar over it, so poop doesn't go in. They know how to drink on their own, it just happens fast. Don't worry he's fine if he knows where it is. They don't think there's a difference between drinking water and bath water....it's all the same to them. Put the syringe away.

 

[HusseinBerjaoui]

When I first got my fid I thought he wasn't drinking water until I noticed that he used to do it when I'm not near him
And your parrot might probably entered the water dish to swim and play, mine did that too