In birdwatching, there’s one rule of thumb with identifying the gender of a bird.
The boys are always prettier.
I know. Not fair. Girls do all the work, but the boys get the good looks.
So in the photo above, the sparrow to the left has more striking markings and more vivid hues. He’s the boy. The girl is pretty too, in her own dull brown innocent way. Once you see two of them together, it’s very easy to identify their gender. We have couples who frequent our feeders – cardinals, house finches, goldfinches, red bellied woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, sparrows, cowbirds and red winged blackbirds.
We also have mourning doves but I still have a hard time determining who’s who unless one poofs up and starts chasing the other one around in circles, the dirty little bird.
{10 Comments}
I know they’re just ordinary little birds, but they’re *so* sweet I could cry!
Oh, heck, no hormone issues here. :giggle:
pam’s last blog post..Florida gun bill succeeds despite detractors
Then I’m hormonal a lot – I always think they’re sweet, even when there’s 100 of them swarming all over in my trees and hogging down every last seed in the feeders!
Aha! See, now I know! Good Lord, they really are sweet, though. Someone in our apartment building always dumps a boatload of feed outside for the birds and I get all uppity when the squirrels start taking it. I have to realize that swearing at squirrels doesn’t tend to work all that well, but I give it my all anyway.
Naomi Dunford’s last blog post..You Are Fat: The IttyBiz Guide To Constructive Criticism
you probably already know why the boys are prettier…right?
boys are prettier because they have to attract the attention of the females. And females are more delute because they have to hide and protect the nest. so it is a survivial thing…if the boys want to make chicks they have to be pretty and if the girls want to raise chicks they have to be dull.
But I find beauty in the girls anyway.
I have a friend who has love birds and they’ve finally got a baby chick (the set has had many clutches of eggs, but it took them until now to figure out that the male bird was killing off the chicks…so now he has a separate cage.) My friend is posting picutes of the growing chick and it’s sooo cute! I wish I could share them, but they’re on our homeschooling board that is all password protected.
Renee’s last blog post..The gym’s response back
Naomi – we are EOF’s here, (equal opportunity feeders) – we can’t avoid the squirrels, so we’ve modified the feeder so that there’s a tray at the bottom where the squirrels eat “leftovers”. Here’s our feeder: http://intricateart.com/blog/grand-central-feeding-station/
You can’t win, so you may as well adapt! LOL
Oh they are a beautiful couple! I always knew about the male birds being more beautiful but seeing them together you can actually see it. Lovely picture by the way… there are so many cats in our neighborhood you would be hard pressed to see a ‘bird couple’ longer enough to get a picture!
Cindy Lietz’s last blog post..Making Polymer Clay Canes with the Checkerboard Cane Pattern
so sweet!! :violet:
They are so cute! Yeah! I hope the give you babies to photo. 🙂
Lisa’s Chaos’s last blog post..Little Critters and a Whatchamacallit
I wish the “boys are prettier” thing worked in humans. Because I get tired of always doing my hair and worrying about what I’m wearing and putting on makeup, and my BF comes in in jeans and a t-shirt with wet hair. Whut?
I have some cardinals in my front trees, and the male is just beautiful! The female is nice, too, but not as bright.
And I’m with you on Michael. This is what happens when you let America vote. That and presidential elections. 🙂 I have to listen to that horrible Kristi Cook and not hear my Aussie hunk. 🙂
Carmen’s last blog post..Around Santorini
I love the photo. Awesome picture! Thanks for sharing.
Carole’s last blog post..Visions of Eastern Bluebird?American as Apple Pie!
Sorry, comments are now closed.