DEI For Birds Could Improve Avian Conservation

A new study finds that overlooking the lives of female birds can have severe conservation consequences

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Adult female red phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius) on a snowmelt pond in the tundra. In phalaropes, the female is the more colorful (and dominant) sex. (Credit: Peter Pearsall / USFWS Alaska, common domain)

I’ve long wondered why so many ornithologists, conservation biologists, and birders ignore or overlook female birds. For example, I’ve often found a lot of challenge as well as pleasure in identifying and observing female birds as they go about their lives — lives that are different from those of the (sometimes) more showy males of the species.

This sex bias was explored by conservation biologist Joanna Wu, a PhD student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA, in collaboration with the Audubon Society. In this study (ref), Ms Wu, whose research focuses on female birds and conservation, argues that improving the identification and observation of female birds can help scientists to better conserve birds and their habitats.

“There is so much more that we can learn about birds, and ecology in general, that we miss when we only focus on males, or assume that females are ‘similar enough’ to males,” said Ms Wu, the study’s lead author. “That’s why it’s so critical that we encourage sex-specific questions in research.”