New to the board, new to the bird

[Mishael]

Hello there, my name is Mishael, I'm seventeen and I'm from Newcastle, Australia.
A little over two months ago, I came into the care of a Rose Breasted Cockatoo, meet Scratch.




You can read the story of how I managed to get him on my profile page
I'd appreciate getting to know any others with a Pink & Grey,
with any tips or ideas in relation to this fantastic species.

[Muchi]

Yay! More Luens... I mean, galahs! Heehee.
Welcome to the board, you have a stunning little guy there!
You've probably already noticed there's a nifty little 'Australia' sub-forum and a Cockatoo section. There are a few RB2 owners here and I'm sure they can all offer you terrible advice.
I'm kidding, they've all been incredibly helpful and a great source of handy information to Luen and I. Mostly me. There are very few things they wouldn't be able to help you with.

[pippy]

Oh what a beautiful bird!

A local pet shop here has a Galah at the moment, it loves all the attention it's given!

[kellywess]

Welcome to Bird Board. Scratch is beautiful. Love those chestnut colored eyes. Excellent photos, almost like Scratch willingly sat and posed for you.

[SallyQZ]

Welcome to the board! Scratch is beautiful!! I remember reading somewhere that female galahs have a reddish/brown iris, so Scratch may be a girl. Here's some pics of my two silly galahs (along with my grey who wasn't really thrilled to have new pink neighbors):

[Lori~D]

I thought Girl right away - most Toos females have the red irises and boys have the Black but I wasn't sure with Rose Breasteds. What a beautiful picture - Welcome to the board!! Read the Profile - thats too cute.

[my-africangrey-echo]

OMG Gorgeous. I really have to stop looking at these pics or I am going to need to have at least one of every bird.

[Mishael]

Thank you for all the lovely comments, I have to admit he (or she) actually does seem to like posing for me, a fair bit haha.

As for gender, its' eye colour is more like the first picture than the second. Everything that I've read in relation to differentiating between male and female, has said that boys have a brown to almost black iris, whereas the girls are more pink to red-ish. Although now that I think about it, there was something I read about a breeder having a pair who both had light brown eyes, and they produced chicks. So I'm not sure..

I have contemplated a trip to the vet's to determine age and sex, but I'm just too concerned about him freaking out, as he is VERY easily scared and stressed

[Lori~D]

BirdsnWays Cockatoo Heaven - Sexing Cockatoos
I do beleive your bird is a female. Its the same sexing method as my Sulfer and males eyes look nearly entirely black

[my-africangrey-echo]

Age is something you may never know it is next to impossable to tell for sure. Sex is as easy as a DNA test you can even do yourself. Avianbiotech Will send you the test card and run it for you and post/email your results in a matter of a week or so's time. It cost about $20.00 US so if you really want to know it's that easy!

Either way she/he is just beautiful. I am quite jealous of the beauty of the parrots in your part of the world. We have none in the wild here in the Cold Northern part of the USA.