Murmurations for Mutual Aid: A Female Bird Day Birdathon

In North America, birders and ornithologists tend to pay closer attention to male birds than females.

Female and immature birds are often clubbed together in literature about field marks, and female bird ID tips are sometimes left out of field guides entirely.

Though it isn't true for all birds, for sexually dimorphic species (meaning that visually, we can tell the sexes apart), most males are brighter and generally more colorful. For songbirds, it's common in North America for males to be more prolific singers, but female birdsongs also have a complex and critical role in sustaining bird populations. Female birds usually also play a more attentive role in nesting and raising newborn birds.

Focusing on female birds could be key in conservation of declining bird species. For example, it was overlooked until recently that female Golden-winged Warblers spend the non-breeding season in lower elevations than males, and as a result females have lost twice as much of their foraging habitat as males!

With Female Bird Day, members of The Galbatross Project want to change old habits by encouraging more birders to observe female birds. The Galbatross Project is a crowd-sourcing movement that's gathering information on North American bird species to compile the most extensive database of female traits—including behaviors, vocalizations and physical features.

The Galbatrosses are a group of scientists, birders, writers, and conservationists who first came together to count feathered females at the 2019 World Series of Birding and are now looking to share the love and nerdiness with the rest of their diverse community. Visit their website to learn more about Female Bird Day and their mission!

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How to Find a Female: An Introduction to Female Bird ID

Date: Wednesday, May 24

Time: 5 PM Pacific / 8 PM Eastern time

Duration: 40 minutes plus Q&A

We’ll cut to the chase: Female birds are really cool, and we at the Galbatross Project love them fiercely. But we’ve learned over the course of the project that finding females is an entire birding practice unto itself, and one that isn’t well-covered in other birding milieu.

Join Purbita and Martha, two co-founders of the Galbatross Project, for an introduction to female bird identification and how you can incorporate this into the way that you already appreciate birds.

Who is this workshop for?

Everyone who has a passing interest in bird ID! We want to stress that female bird ID can be done with any birding practice, including nest and feeder cams, backyard birding, feeder watching, regular birding outings, or just staring out a window.

How can I join?

This workshop will be free, virtual and open to the public, but donations to our Birdathon campaign are encouraged, and all proceeds will benefit the Western Mass Asylum Support Network.

Register for the webinar

Make a donation

Are you interested in sharing your notes and data about female birds and their behavior? The Galbatross Project has a great way for you to share your notes! Pull up this Google form and find each species you were able to identify to sex. Then, fill out the short questionnaire and summarize how you determined female from male in the open-ended responses. Scientific citations are welcome; you can also link to relevant eBird checklists with photos. Submit new techniques as many times as you want!

Your contributions help us all learn more about female birds. Enjoy the experience in the field and thanks for supporting Female Bird Day!

Submit Your Notes