Some Females Aren’t Plain

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This week I listened to a presentation on female birds and how they are given less attention than males. 

In the beginning, they talked about the Greater Painted Snipe which lives in Europe and Asia. I thought it was a cool bird because the females were the ones that were painted while the males are drab and not brightly colored. I thought that was interesting because usually it is the opposite, the males are bright and attractive, while the females are drab and dull. 

  The greater painted snipe females are probably more colorful than the males because they don’t take care of the chicks, usually it is the opposite. I did some research on the snipe and found out that the female spreads her wings to attract a male and that the female will mate with many males in one breeding season! I also learned that the female just leaves the male to take care of the eggs.

 I hope that female birds are more attractive to you after this.

  The Greater Painted Snipe.

                                                     additional information

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Habitat – Wet marshes, riversides and grasslands

Colors – Males are drab with a brown pattern, while the females are rusty with a blue head and white stripes

Distribution – southern Europe and Asia

Feeding Behaviors – sandpiper-like probing