Unless these birds were in hand, it is extremely unlikely that sex would be 
determined by size.  There isn't very much difference in size and it takes 
a combination of measurements for banders to determine sex.

Size perception of birds is often skewed by perspective and surroundings, 
more common in less commonly viewed species.  Saw-whets have lots of 
feathers and can greatly change their appearance by fluffing or flattening 
their feathers or changing their posture.

J. Steven Huy
Middletown, MD, USA


-----Original Message-----
From:	Marcy Stutzman [SMTP:]
Sent:	Monday, 21 February, 2005 09:47
To:	
Subject:	[MDOSPREY] Saw-whet owls

Good question. The identification of the SAW-WHETs as male and female was
based upon their size and made by Jay Sheppard who was leading the search.
I definitely should have included the modifier "likely" male and "likely"
female. Sorry for the confusion.

Marcy Stutzman
Russett, MD

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 20 Feb 2005 10:04:03 -0500
From:    "J. Steven Huy" <>
Subject: Re: Saw-whet owls

How did you determine that they were male and female?

J. Steven Huy
Middletown, MD, USA