The lutino cockatiel is one of the most popular mutations of cockatiel, with white to light-yellow feathers and orange/red cheek patches.
The "normal grey" or "wild type" of a cockatiel's plumage is primarily grey with prominent white flashes on the outer edges of each wing.
However, bird breeders can breed for certain traits, and they have been breeding for different color mutations in cockatiels since the 1940s.[1]
The lutino cockatiel mutation was the second cockatiel mutation to be established in the United States, the first being the pied cockatiel mutation in 1951.[2]
The lutino appeared in the aviaries of Cliff Barringer of Miami, Florida, United States, in 1958.[3][4]