Plumage Distinctions

In northern reaches, in summer, one can appreciate the difference between male and female Yellow Rumped Warblers.  It is much more difficult to to that here, in winter.  At first blush the birds look very much alike and I find it necessary to squint at each fieldmark.  In a nutshell, and I am fairly certain of this now, the males (one is shown) have a little darker cheek, and a little streakier chest.  Come March or April, if I am lucky and one or more stick around, I can see the truer breeding plumage.  And that head gets very much darker.

It's tough enough to shrug and give up with all of the monoplumage around here: Mourning Doves, chickadees, titmice, ... there are just too many species where distinctions are utterly impossible.  And of course, that makes counting them later (Great Backyard Bird Count, anyone?) all the harder.  Having those gender distinctions does tell a bigger story.  For the YRWs, it's almost not happening.