lirralirra

Although I’ve known how to differentiate between male and female Magpie-larks for years, for some reason it took a foolproof realisation to make me remember which was which in the field.

I knew to look for the ‘stern’ white eyebrow, the black throat and the broad white facial band to identify a male Magpie-lark but I always seemed to forget that in the field. Finally I realised that the males have a big, bushy beard! The bush ranger look, or the wild hippy look, or the increasingly common bushy bearded gentleman.

Female Magpie-larks have white faces in front of their eyes and white throats. They don’t have white eyebrows. I tried to think of the males as having stern white eyebrows and the females having mascara running down their cheeks – neither memory-aid helped at all.

I’ve shared the image above just to show the lovely swirl of feathers that were blowing about in the wind. The fine white fringing on the black feathers is quite beautiful.

And I’ve shared the image above to see if you can tell which gender it is in the field (literally) which you may have been able to do long before I shared this post!

Magpie-larks are also known as mudlarks and peewees. Their call, which may sound like just one bird, is often one bird calling and the other answering.

Happy birding, Kim

~ Facebook page Kim Wormald – lirralirra
~ Facebook group  Ethical Bird Photography