The sex of a parrot cannot be determined by sight.
It can be extremely difficult to determine the sex of large parrots. Visual inspection won't work except in the case of the Eclectus parrot --- where the male is green and the female is red --- because male and female parrots look virtually identical. You can guess by size --- in Amazons, for example, the female is generally larger and more robust while the male is sleeker and smaller --- but you would need a large sample of birds to compare sizes in order to even make an educated guess. Parrots don't have external sex organs. Surgical sexing and hormone and DNA testing are the only ways to accurately sex a parrot.
Instructions
1. Surgically sex the bird. An experienced avian veterinarian can perform a laparoscopic procedure to examine the bird's internal sex organs. Surgical sexing is a common practice among parrot breeders. The bird must be anesthetized for surgical sexing, so there's the possibility you could lose the bird, although it's a rare occurrence.
2. Get a hormone test. This is a noninvasive procedure where the vet will draw blood to test hormone levels in the bird. The bird does not need to be knocked out for this procedure.
3. Test the bird's DNA to determine its sex. DNA tests can be performed using a blood sample or feathers. DNA test labs will provide the exact procedures for collecting samples.
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