just a question or two

Question

today there were lots of Bluetits on our 3 feeder around 25..now how can i tell male from female.. never really throught about before.. they were going mad at the fat balls and seed.. for around 1 1/2 hours.. 
 
 next the SISKIN today they seem to be back..not seem any this year again male /female.. 
 dark top of head were the ones today.. 
 
 Green finch i,m ok on and most of the others the pop in and out sorry to ask but as i said never really gave it a throught 
 
 lol jenny

Buzzard · Answer

Hi Jenny G, welcome to the forum. 
 Sexing certain species of birds can be very difficult, certain species can only be sexed during the breeding season when the bird is the the hand. As a licensed ringer this makes it somewhat easier. 
 As some of the other members have mentioned , colour plays a big part when identify birds in the field. 
 Sexing BlueTits and a number of other species does take a good eye for detail and with practice sexing birds can be achieved at about a 80% success rate. 
 You need to know which feathers of the bird to compare, for instance in Blue Tits the males Greater Coverts, Median Coverts, and Lesser Coverts are a deep ultramarine blue and feathers of the Crown are a deeper blue and darker than the females. 
 The females Greater Coverts, Median Coverts, and Lesser Coverts are a medium blue with a greyish cast. The Crown is lighter and a greyer blue than the male. 
 Sexing Siskins is also difficult especially first year juveniles. Adult birds can be separated using the Crown, the male normally has a black Crown, 1yr males sometimes have a dark grey Crown. 
 The females Crown is normally green-grey and streaked dark. 
 This is the best way I can advise to sex them, there are numerous other methods but again there used mainly by ringers. 
 I hope this gives you some idea of the difficulties and the methods used to sex certain species, a lot of watching and note taking is also useful. 
 Regards Buzzard