For all the lady birds...

I've been getting really good looks at female birds lately.  I think many of the drabber ladies get passed over or missed altogether because they're often secreted away on nests and not singing garishly from exposed perches like their testosterone-filled counterparts.

I've come to call passing over the lady birds "Painted Bunting Syndrome" or 'PBS' because the condition first became apparent to me in Florida while looking for a Painted Bunting (PABU) at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  We could practically taste the sighting of a colorful lifer because the birds are regular clients at the visitor center feeders.  Yes, an easy score but also a chance to see an amazing creature fairly close and undisturbed.  We waited nonchalantly on the boardwalk hoping for a glimpse...

A female PABU came in and we were fairly excited, but admittedly sort of let down that it wasn't a male in all his breeding plumage splendor.  Egads, there we were - two women downplaying the sighting of a female PABU...Blasphemy!  Little did we realize this was even happening until the male PABU came in for a snack and changed the whole mood.  I realized afterward that I didn't even take any pictures of the female!  I vowed to be aware of this avi-sexism and to be better about it in the future. 

Female birds are really quite incredible.  They are often the sole caregivers and clearly work very hard for a living in the bird world.  Plus they're exquisitely beautiful.
  
How can one not appreciate the subtle hues of browns, grays, tans, russets, and creams of these female Red-winged Blackbirds?

Or the understated cap of this Missus Wilson's Warbler?

And could this Ms. Eastern Bluebird be any more coy?

This female Black-and-white Warbler is just so ladylike with minimal makeup...

And this lady Northern Cardinal is looking rather radical with that crest and orange bubblicious bill...

This female White-winged Crossbill is swank despite the snow...

And though she belongs to a species of evil incarnate, even this female House Sparrow is pretty damn cute with her pantaloomy sides...

Maybe we are just desensitized to sexual dimorphism by all the species that are generally impossible to sex, like Black-capped Chickadees...

Great-crested Flycatchers...

Cedar Waxwings...

And Gray Catbirds...

Maybe it's simply that we don't even care because of the commonness of a species.  Think of the last time you pondered over who-was-who in a pair of American Robins, Mourning Doves or Turkey Vultures...ummm, probably never.  

I think fowl are highly susceptible to PBS - clearly hens just don't provide the same satisfaction as drakes, as evidenced by this Northern Shoveler...

Hens tend to be better appreciated when accompanied by little fuzzy babies like these Common Eider mommas...

I think it's funny that some species can remain sort of sexless in our minds while the males of other species become crowning glories of life lists!  I swear to beware of Painted Bunting Syndrome and always appreciate the lady birds!