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.
1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 400
Canon 5DIII, Canon 200-400mm L IS USM EXT
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.
1/1250, f/8.0, ISO 1600
Canon 5DSR, Canon 200-400mm L IS USM EXT
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.
1/1250, f/8.0, ISO 1600
Canon 5DSR, Canon 200-400mm L IS USM EXT
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.
1/800, f/5.6, ISO 1600
Canon 5DIV, Canon 200-400mm L IS USM EXT
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
We have a pair who visit us often, we have water! The female has been pecking at her chest which we haven’t seen before. Could this mean she is with eggs? She also has been flying from fence to fence, it seems just for fun. Interesting.
How interesting! Magpie-larks line their nests with feathers and I have read about them plucking themselves but I haven’t seen it myself. I hope that is what is happening and that you soon have some hatchlings in your garden.
Hello Kim
I am loving how you capture the character beyond the’prettiness’ of the birds you photograph…
As to telling magpie larks apart
I remember which is which by just asking ‘are you a geisha girl’. Geisha girls have white faces… this was something I came up with and it has never failed my and as it has ‘girl’ in its donkey bridge it is an easy one… he he he (I guess it only works though, if you know what a geisha girl is :-P)
Thank you for your kind comment! Your way of telling them apart is great too because it links to something that defines the gender, very creative 🙂
Beautiful Kim, thanks for sharing
Oh, your comment didn’t get answer Syndy, so sorry about that… and so pleased you enjoyed the post, Kim
Hi Kim, thanks for the great info! Something to note is that s @x refers to the biological differences between males and females, whereas gender is more difficult to define, but it can refer to the role of a male or female in society or an individual’s concept of themselves. Here you are referring to the s @x of the birds 🙂
Hi Belinda, point definitely taken, thank you. I have to be mindful of words I use in case subscribers, or searches, have SafeSearch enabled. I could have used ‘male’ and ‘female’ (which I did in most places) but it would have been a bit unwieldy in the title. Please let me know if you can think of something succinct I could use if I do a similar post in the future.
Great images Kim. Thanks for the info. Let’s hope I can remember that when trying to identify those visitors outside our window on a fairly regular basis.
I hope it’s helpful Margot. At least ‘beard’ is pretty gender specific, rather than white eyebrow, or white face or some other random thing to try to keep in mind!
That has been really helpful. Because they’re Peewees to be honest I’ve never paid a lot of attention. I will now and they certainly have caught my attention. Thanks Kim for sharing.
They are lovely birds Lynette, I hope you enjoy watching them more closely (and listening to them calling to each other). Thank you, Kim
Thankyou, Kim, for the info. I never knew and have a photo of one standing on top of a post just like yours. Now I’ll just have to go back into the archives and find the photo to check out the gender. Eek! Beautiful images, as usual. Marg
Now I’m curious about your bird Marg, and how quickly you could ID the gender
Thanks I’ve been the same Kim. Beard so easy to remember. Thanks and beautiful photos.
YAY! I hope it works as well for you as it does for me. It was such a relief to finally think of a way to remember. And, thank you
Beautiful things. Love those feather swirls. I hadn’t realised that the males were bearded, and love that stern eyebrow (though my father’s were MUCH more impressive).
And yes, your final image is a female.
I hadn’t thought about the beard until I got tired of forgetting which was which, no matter how many ‘clever’ memory aids I tried using. I’m sure the Magpie Larks’ eyebrows are absolutely pathetic in comparison with your father’s!
Thanks, that’s something I didn’t know!
Cool, I love learning new things and guess you do too Donna 🙂
Thanks from me also Kim. Great shots also!
My pleasure Stephen, thank you!
wonderful photos Kim. always helpful with the necessary research for painting.
Thanks Rhonda, happy to help with research!
Thanks for that Kim, I also could never remember – white face, black face, male or female? The bearded look is a great tip! Lovely images, especially the ruffled feathers.
Thanks Cheryl, I’m glad it works for you too! I loved seeing the feathers ruffling, so pretty