About Sexual Dimorphism

Photo by Cal Vornberger
Female Scarlet Tanager eating Insect

Yesterday, in my posting about Scarlet Tanagers, I couldn't resist making a crack about the less flashy female, who sports dull yellow plumage instead of the male's gorgeous red. My parenthetical comment was "It hardly seems fair."
Today one of this website's regular correspondents, Arlene Katz, writes

Subject: Couldn't resist pointing out that nature always brightly colors the non-essential member of the pair

Date:	Thu, 19 May 2005 08:26:41 -0400

Hi Marie,

Maybe it hardly seems fair but if I had a predator scanning the woods for me, I'd opt for subtlety!

Best,

Arlene