![]() ![]() These sexually monomorphic species do not have any obvious or subtle morphological differences between the genders, making visual sexing impractical, even during the breeding season. To confuse things further, many finches are not sexually dimorphic at all. When Strawberry (or Orange Weaver) cocks are sporting their eclipse plumage, they are (basically) visually indistinguishable from the hens. To the left is a photo of two strawberry finch cocks in differing amounts of "nuptial" (breeding) plumage. Examples of these types of species are the Strawberry Finch (Red Avadavat) and the Orange Weaver. Unfortunately, in these birds the "eclipse" (non breeding) plumage of the cocks looks nearly identical to that of the hens, who do not change colors seasonally. To the inexperienced Zebra Finch keeper, mutations such as these can be very confusing and make sexing the birds a challenge.Īlso complicating matters is that fact that some of the sexually dimorphic species only show differences in markings and/or body coloration during the breeding season. In some cases, the male's beak is a darker red than the hen's orange beak, but some variation is possible making the two genders appear nearly identical. ![]() The white mutation, however, complicates things because in all-white birds, neither sex has any markings to help distinguish the males from the females. Typically, Zebra Finches are very easy to sex because the male usually has at least one of the following features that the female typically lacks: cheek patches, a breast bar, or spotted side flanking. One example of this phenomenon is the white Zebra Finch. Sometimes species which are ordinarily sexually dimorphic may appear sexually monomorphic due to a certain coloration or mutation.
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