Species Account
A popular cagebird, the Cockatiel escapes or is released in Florida frequently, with reports from 19 counties (Greenlaw et al. 2014). Endemic to interior Australia, it is locally abundant, with an estimated population of one million individuals (Rowley and Kirwan 2020). Cockatiels feed on a wide variety of small seeds, mostly taken from the ground (Rowley and Kirwan 2020). The natural morph is gray with a pale yellow face and crest, an orange ear patch, and a large white wing patch. Many individuals seen in Florida are avicultural morphs (with 25 varieties noted; African Parrots 2024), which range from all white to several pied varieties.
Citation: Pranty, B. 2024z9. Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus). In A. B. Hodgson, editor. Florida Breeding Birds Atlas II, Special Publication Number 9. Florida Ornithological Society, Tampa, USA.
Banner Photograph: Alexander Lamoreaux
Despite numerous records in Florida, Cockatiels have never been known to breed; most reports are of single individuals. Having been bred as captive, feral individuals for decades, Cockatiels seem unable to survive outside of captivity for more than a few days or weeks. During the first Florida Breeding Bird Atlas project, there were only 2 possible breeding records (suggesting single Cockatiels seen once), in Bay and Monroe counties (FWC 2003). There were no observations during the second Atlas project. However, 27 (!) observations were submitted to eBird from April–July 2011–2017, during the BBA II breeding seasons. Apparently, many eBirders did not submit their data to the Breeding Bird Atlas project, and eBird data was not “mined” for usable atlas observations. It seems likely that Cockatiels will continue to escape or be released in Florida, but there is no reason at present to suggest that they will ever establish a breeding population.
References
African Parrots. 2024. Cockatiel colors. https://african-parrot.com/cockatiel-colors. Accessed 5 January 2024.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission [FWC]. 2003. Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus). In Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, editor. Florida’s breeding bird atlas: A collaborative study of Florida’s birdlife. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Tallahassee, USA. https://myfwc.com/media/19673/bba_cock.pdf.
Greenlaw, J. S., B. Pranty, and R. Bowman. 2014. The Robertson and Woolfenden Florida Bird Species: An Annotated List. Special Publication Number 8. Florida Ornithological Society, Gainesville, USA.
Rowley, I., and G. M. Kirwan. 2020. Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus), version 1.0. In J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, editors. Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA.