### Birds are one of the main themes when we talk about wildlife photography.

Whether by their colors and shapes, or even by being more easily detectable than other groups of living beings, they are chosen as the priority model by countless photographers around the world.

In my case, they are also one of my favorite subjects.

One of the most curious facts is that, depending on the species we photograph, we can register completely different specimens, although belonging to the same species. This is because most birds species have a characteristic called **_sexual dimorphism_**, which means that, in most cases, the male and female are different in color of the plumage, shape or size.

However, it is the males that present the most gaudy colors or the most spectacular patterns, being visually more stimulating. All this to impress the females (of course...) and have more chance of being chosen as partner at mating time.

As a bonus we also have the juveniles, which in some cases are different from both males and females!

In the next photos, I leave you the example of a very common species in Europe, which can be seen with relative ease in both rural and urban areas: the **European Stonechat _(Saxicola rubicola)_**.

The **European Stonechat** usually allows good approximations, when we do it with caution.

It's also a good example of the visual differences between male and female birds, and also between adults and juveniles, as you will see in the following three pictures...

### European Stonechat, male.
###### http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/02/06/Cartaxo-comumc8daf.jpg © David Germano | All rights reserved.

### European Stonechat, female.
###### http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/01/26/Cartaxo-comumfemea99a57.jpg © David Germano | All rights reserved.

### European Stonechat, juvenile.
###### http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/01/26/Cartaxo-comumjuvenila78af.jpg © David Germano | All rights reserved.

### Cheers!