Senegal coloration as indication of sex

[Strawfrawg]

I read that male Sennies tend to have more yellow towards the belly and tail, while females are greenish or green. I don't know (a) if this is true, or (b) if coloring changes as a bird matures, but my DNA-sexed male is very green towards the belly and tail right now at 4.3 months.

I'm interested to know if people here can support the coloration thing. Does your female Sennie have more green towards the tail? Males more yellow? Juvenile or mature adult? Did it change over time?

[Pajarita]

It's absolutely true. Senegals are not monomorphic, they are dimorphic. The males have a short green V on their chest so you see a lot of yellow, orange or red while the females' V reaches almost all the way down to the vent so you see much less yellow. There are other differences (males' heads are 'blockier' and their necks are wider while the hens are more delicate in appearance) but you need to have a male and a female side by side to see them.

[JaydeParrot]

I have both a male and a female senegal, colour wise they look almost exactly alike there is no difference between the size of the v and also no difference in the amount of green/yellow at the tail. Despite this I am almost always able to tell them apart, even from a distance.

These are the differences that I have found between them, you could always use this a checklist to see if your senegal fits into this category (if there are any fail safe diffrences to look out for):

A. The female has a yellow dot on each shoulder, the male does not.

B. The female has light pink feet whereas the male has dark purple-ish feet.

C. The female has a very light grey head, the male's looks much more black.

D. The female's eyes appear slightly smaller and generally half closed (calmer/sleepy sort of look) and are pale yellow, the male's eyes are very big and wide (suprised/angrier sort of look), coloured a dark strong yellow.

E. The female's beak is smaller than the male's and resembles that of a green cheek conure, the lower mandible is noteably shorter than the top mandible, preventing her from giving an overly vicious bite, the male's beak is bigger than the female's and somewhat resembles that of a cockatoo, both top and lower mandibles are similar length, (the lower mandible still being the shorter of the two but not by much).

F. Males tend perch with their bodies in a bolt upright position, whereas females tend to perch in a much more horizontal position, with their chest facing slightly downwards toward the perch.

G. The top of a female's head is rounded whereas the top of male's head seems to have more of a flat/square like appearance, sometimes causing them to have a somewhat angry expression.

H. The female is smaller, with the male having a bigger beak and a taller/ stockier body and a very slightly bigger head.

If you have a Senegal, please post the gender (if known) and all the letters (A to H) which fit them/ if you notice any differences which I have missed off add them on as I, J, e.t.c. .

[Strawfrawg]

All letters fit my male bird per your descriptions, except for A. He does have a small yellow patch on the top of each shoulder...really more like a few small vest or under-wing feathers that get caught above the wing sometimes. His V is long, but fades down to a yellowish-green point among greener feathers.

See my profile photo. Chunky little bugger...and as an aside, his tail is a bit shorter than most sennies I've known. When viewed from underneath, his lower mandible looks longer then pictured. He is leaning more horizontally in the picture, but he was about to fly off. His head is darker now...this picture was taken at 10 weeks and his eyes and coloration started changing around 14 weeks. I didn't know feather colors could change without molting, but his head is definitely darker now.

[wdlodge]

I read that male Sennies tend to have more yellow towards the belly and tail, while females are greenish or green. I don't know (a) if this is true, or (b) if coloring changes as a bird matures, but my DNA-sexed male is very green towards the belly and tail right now at 4.3 months.

I'm interested to know if people here can support the coloration thing. Does your female Sennie have more green towards the tail? Males more yellow? Juvenile or mature adult? Did it change over time?

From what I have read, a males coverlets (underside of the tail) should be all yellow no green, whereas the female may have yellow coverlets too but with hints of green or even a lot of green. The V should reach mid chest in a male whereas the females reaches further down between her legs. The break of a male is larger, whereas a females is more narrow. I forget what I read about the head, but the way a male perches more upright, where as a female tends to sit more horizontal to the way a male sits.

I plan on having Rio DNA sexed eventually. Visually I think it's a she, but in case she is really a he, we named her Rio.

[Pajarita]

Yes, I forgot about the tail undercoverts difference for males and females. But the yellow 'dot' (it's called the wing bend) depends on how the feathers grow so I don't think it's a male/female thing but more of an individual bird thing (kind of like a person's cowlick).

[Brittanyv326]

B. The female has light pink feet whereas the male has dark purple-ish feet.
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I wondered about this one for a while. I've seen some Senegals with such pink, cute feet & Sadies are dark gray/purple color. She's not DNA tested, but I started paying attention and it looks to me like Kili's feet are exactly like Sadie's, dark, and she's DNA tested female. Reading this whole discussion made me get Sadie DNA tested finally so I will know for sure once & for all! lol. A vet told me he was convinced she was a female from feeling her hips but from reading your list, it seems like she is a he. I'm waiting on the results now. It's not a big deal if she's a boy, I might just call her Sade or something, haha. My boyfriend won't change what he calls her either way, he says her name is Sadie even if she's a he! Anyway, I'll fill this out once I know for sure. I forgot to ask how long it takes to get the results.

[Strawfrawg]

My results came in after about a week.

I'm inclined to wonder about that wing spot thing, myself. In Marvin's case the yellow is not always showing...it's just small feathers that get caught above the wing sometimes. If we're talking about an actual spot of coloration that is clearly on the wing itself, I've never seen a sennie that had it.

I suspect Marvin's coloration on the underside of the tail will change at his first molt. My bf's second bird changed a lot then...her coloration became much more vibrant overall. It will be interesting to see what he looks like after that. I'm confident of the DNA results, so maybe the coloration thing isn't across the board. Or I have a chimera. Wouldn't be surpirsed. This bird has taken on the personae of many mythological creatures since I've had him. Today he is a minotaur. Hiding in corners and trying to kill me when I get to him.

I've never seen a sennie with pink feet. Interesting. I kind of like the dark ones. Goes better with the beak.

[Brittanyv326]

Some examples of pink feet I've seen:

This is a picture by user leeterrell on instagram of their Senegal with pink feet. I'm not sure of the sex.



And another by ehsanaz on Instagram. He says "her" but I didn't ask if she's DNA tested.

[Pajarita]

First one looks like a male and the second looks like a female -see the difference in the chest Vs?