How Long Do Cockatiels Live?

Boobear the Cockatiel is pleased to wish himself a twenty-sixth birthday.

The lovely and talented Nyota the Peach-faced Lovebird, Boobear’s long-time girlfriend, would like to remind all visitors to pin their donations of fresh-cut millet spray to her favorite play gym. She will taste-test them personally before passing on the very best to the guest of honor.

There’s cake and ice cream on the buffet for you human party-goers. And don’t forget to crack open the bottle of champagne.

We need refreshments because we’ve got a lot to celebrate.

Twenty-six candles is an awful lot of candles for one small birthday bird to blow out.

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How Long Do Pet Cockatiels Live?

Every summer when Boobear's birthday rolls around, I begin to wonder-- and this summer is no different. Twenty-six is certainly not young for this species.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, I wrote for a couple of print magazines called Bird Talk and American Cage-Bird Magazine, the leading American periodicals for pet bird owners. In those days, we estimated the life expectancy of the domestic Cockatiel at around 20 years.

Even back then, the pampered life of the pet allowed Cockatiels to substantially outlive their 10–15 year life expectancy in the wild.

During that era, aviculturists (bird keepers) and avian veterinarians were working to develop and popularize better diets as well as better all-around care. Pet owners, experts, and suppliers worked toward a common goal — to greatly increase the chance of your pet bird living into old age.

My general impression is that it’s much more common than it once was to meet Cockatiels living — and thriving — well into their twenties.

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Choose Your Cockatiel Breeder Wisely

Asked in 2020 about how long a 26-year-old Cockatiel might be expected to live, the veterinarian-created bird food company Lafeber, offered this answer:

“[G]rey cockatiels are the natural color and tend to be the strongest cockatiels genetically. At 26, your bird has far outlived the average cockatiel these days. With all of the mutation and sadly inbreeding, many cockatiels only live to around 12 years old. The oldest confirmed cockatiel was in his late 30’s.”

Grey or normal Cockatiels present with the original natural-looking colors seen in nature. If breeders prioritize pairing unrelated birds, rather than aiming for special color mutations, they will often get some greys in the mix.

My Cockatiel, Boobear, happens to be a white-faced mutation. These Cockatiels present a striking gray and white coloring with no hint of orange or yellow in the plumage. Rare (at least in my area) when I first started reporting on pet birds, this handsome mutation has surged in popularity over the years.

He was a rescue bird, so I had no choice in the matter, but I’m confident his breeder picked Boobear’s parents wisely. There’s no evidence of inbreeding. At 26, Boobear is a lively bird who could pass for much younger than he is if the date on his leg band didn’t give him away.

If you choose a bird from a breeder or pet store, do your due diligence. Birds from a Cockatiel “mill” could disappoint.

For some in-depth background on Boobear, y ou may enjoy reading a story I published last year, "What a Cockatiel Teaches Me About Life, Love, and Neediness." (You'll find the link at the end of this article.)

In that story, I noted that Boobear gave a general impression of being mature or middle-aged but not old. As far as I can tell, he doesn’t feel a day older than when I wrote that report.

So I’ll raise a glass to toast his health and the many years ahead of us still to come.

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A Look at Cockatiels in their Thirties

A story that badly needs updating comes from the Guinness Book of World Records. In 2016, they validated a 32-year-old Cockatiel named Sunshine as the world’s oldest living Cockatiel.

I have so many questions. How long did Sunshine ultimately live? Have they checked out the many other worldwide reports of Cockatiels living well into their thirties?

While it seems unlikely that Sunshine still survives — the bird would now be 38 — there are plenty of anecdotal reports of other thirtysomething Cockatiels.

Here is a YouTube video of a 33-year-old normal grey male Cockatiel named Statler who does look older but is nonetheless in obvious good health for his advanced age:

The videographer updated her notes to let us know Statler lived to be 35, an impressive age for a Cockatiel.

Now that’s a lot of candles on the cake.

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Author's Note: I originally published this story under the same title on Medium. You can now read it here without a paywall. If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving me a heart, a comment, or a small tip.

You can also read Boobear's backstory here:

Nyota the Lovebird's backstory is here: