Which is which?

 So many stories and so little time to write them! I have been checking 15-30 nests a day….I will catch up on the storytelling sometime soon….but this is a little teaching post. For the volunteer monitors….They always ask me how to tell a male from a female….and we usually immediately go to breast markings…darker heavily spotted breasts are USUALLY a female, and lighter, whiter breasts are USUALLY male. Sometimes they can be somewhat conclusive, but more and more I see aberrations that might mislead you. And sometimes they are facing away, so then what? Generally females are larger than males and they also have thicker sturdier legs. But you can’t always see the legs….so another physical attribute I look at is the size of the beak. This photo is perfect to show this….can you see the difference and tell which one is the male and which one is the female?