Male spotlight

One of the best ways to return to posting on hive after a short absence? Well, joining this week's SMAP, of course! This week's theme? Male birds!

It was female's time to shine last week, so more than fair that the males get their due spotlight as well. And truth is, in the bird realm male birds are normally the ones that stand out, because they're often the ones who have the brightest or more colourful plummage.

The two examples I have for you don't really fit on the splendorous plummage realm, but I decided to let them shine a bit too. And starting with the least colourful one...

Although the plummage of this species is nothing to boast about (I do like the pure black though), it's easy to tell males and females apart, since females (and juveniles) have a brownish colour, and the males apart from the black feathers also have the yellow ring around the eye and yellow beak - so easy to tell this one was a male, when I spotted him perching high on a tree.

By the behaviour alone it would be kind of easy to tell: this was in Spring, and this little guy was singing his lungs out, probably trying his luck with the females.

Dunno if he got lucky since I didn't stayed for long, but it was nice to be able to capture a few clicks with him singing!

With a little more colour, here's another common sighting in my country:

In most duck species, there's marked sexual dimorphism, meaning sexes are easily distinguishable. Word of caution, though: there's a period after breeding season where male ducks develop a plummage very simmilar to the females, called eclipse. Fortunately, there are usually some hints that still allow identification.

No eclipse here, though; it's the typical male mallard colours. So common that it's easy to tell them apart... even with their heads off! 😉

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