Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: Where Birds Sleep
Two Mallard ducklings snoozing on a cement bank by the water, their beaks tucked beneath their wings
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • BirdNote Daily
    • Bring Birds Back
    • Threatened
    • BirdNote Presents
    • Sound Escapes
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • The Team
    • Board Members
    • DEI/IDEA Commitment
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

Do Male and Female Birds Always Look Different?

December 15, 2018
Telling the sexes apart, or not
Listen Now
Subscribe
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
Blue Jay pair Expand Image
© Maureen Harding

The males and females of many bird species, like these Blue Jays, look identical. And crows, which at least to our eyes, are all the same color and size. But even if we can’t tell male from female, the birds can. Scientists believe crows may be able to tell each other apart by slight variations in their calls, or because they can see differences in each other’s feathers in the ultraviolet spectrum.

Today's show brought to you by the Bobolink Foundation.

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®  

Do Male and Female Birds Always Look Different?

Written by Bob Sundstrom

[Northern Cardinal song, in background, https://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/134151, 0.15-.25]

This is BirdNote.

In many species of birds, the male is far more colorful than the female.

[Northern Cardinal song]

[bird singing in background, duck under]

For instance, this male Northern Cardinal is a stunning bright red. While his mate [[female Northern Cardinal sound… https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/67071581 or https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/56473211 ]] ...is more subdued.

[American Crow call, https://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/100700, 0.06-.08 and bill rattle, https://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/50118, 0.46-47] 

But the males and females of many bird species look identical. You need look no further than the nearest flock of crows. They are all the same color and size — and all pretty much a mystery as to sex. At least to our** eyes. The same is true of many common birds, from Song Sparrows to Blue Jays to Cedar Waxwings.

[[https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/64015841 or https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/63586181 ]]

Just how such variety has evolved, even among closely related species, is a topic of great scientific complexity. And advancements in technology reveal that birds that look** similar may actually be quite different genetically. 

But even if we can’t tell who’s who, the birds can. Some scientists think crows may be able to tell each other apart by slight variations in their calls. [caw caw] And it’s probable that crows and many other birds see differences in each other’s feathers in the ultraviolet spectrum. Feathers that to us* just look black.

There’s still so much that we have to learn about birds.

For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann.

Today’s show brought to you by the Bobolink Foundation.
                                                                               ###
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by Gerrit Vyn, Wilbur L Hershberger, Geoffrey A Keller, Brad Walker and Kent McFarland.
BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Managing Producer: Jason Saul
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
© 2017 Tune In to Nature.org   December 2017/2018   Narrator: Mary McCann

ID#     plumage-03-2017-12-08    plumage-03           

 
http://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/crow-communication
 
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/drab-female-birds-were-onc…
 
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131219131147.htm
 
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-are-male-birds-more-c/
 
https://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/featured-stories/how-the-ability-to-p…
 
http://www.audubon.org/magazine/may-june-2013/what-makes-bird-vision-so…
 

Bob Sundstrom
Writer
Mary McCann
Narrator
Tags: plumage

Related Resources

Blue Jay – More at Audubon’s Guide to North American BirdsNorthern Cardinal – More at Audubon’s Guide to North American BirdsSong Sparrow – More at Audubon’s Guide to North American BirdsCedar Waxwing – More at Audubon’s Guide to North American Birds

More About These Birds

Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)

Cyanocitta cristata

Sights & Sounds

Related Field Notes

November 11, 2019

A Trick of the Light . . .

By Mike Hamilton
Anna's Hummingbirds sparkle with iridescence...
September 27, 2018

Female Anna's Hummingbird Preening

By Mike Hamilton
Living year round along the Pacific Coast of the US and into the Southwest, Anna's Hummingbirds a

Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

Support BirdNote

  • About
  • Annual Report
  • Contact
  • Science Advisory Council
  • Pitch Page
  • Sights & Sounds
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy