Avian Sexing

Avian Sexing

Most people think it should be pretty easy to determine the sex of your raptor.  The truth is that it really isn’t easy.  Most birds are dimorphic, meaning that they have two forms; a male form and a female form.  Most male birds have ‘pretty’ feathers to attract a  mate, and the females have a more drab appearance.  In Raptors, size is usually the significant tell-tale factor, but it isn’t always foolproof and the males and females are not colored differently.  The exception to this rule being the American Kestrel, which does have different coloration in the male and females of the species. Red-Tailed hawks are not dimorphic and the size difference is difficult to measure accurately enough to determine the sex of the bird.

So, with a Red-Tailed hawk, identifying the sex of the bird isn’t as easy as ‘lifting up the skirt’ to check, as  you might in other animals. The best way to find the sex of your bird is to send in a few feathers for DNA Testing.  If you are interested, check out  avianbiotech.com .  For very low cost, you can send in a few feathers for DNA Testing to know the sex of your raptor with confidence.

* Symbol borrowed from psdgraphics.com; used under GPL Free License grants.

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