Bird Women

In observance of International Women’s Day, here’s a selection of posts from this website dedicated to the female of the feathered species. Many birds look the same to our eyes, male or female. That’s true of Burrowing Owls and of most sparrows we see here. House finches are one of the many species where the male is colorful and the female wears a more conservative wardrobe. An outstanding example is the Red-winged Blackbird, where the male’s crimson epaulets give the species its common name, while the hard-working female with her modest brown coat gets ignored. Gendered coloring is also true of most ducks, such as the Scaup, the Mallard, the Surf Scoter, and others. An exception to the rule is the Kingfisher female — shouldn’t she be the Queenfisher? — who is more colorful than the male. (There’s systematic male bias in bird names.) Female raptors are generally bigger than males, but if you don’t see them together it’s hard to distinguish them. The posts below focus on females of species with obvious sexual dimorphism (gendered appearance). Posts showing male-female pairs or birds courting are omitted. Click on a photo and the post will pop up. To see more, enter “Female” in the search box.