Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.

The female cinnamon teal is – well, not especially cinnamon. Some of the warm browns in her plumage might be described as a pale variety of the spice, but hers is a relatively quiet palette alongside that of a breeding drake. That’s not surprising. As most folks with even casual bird familiarity know, sexual dimorphism with respect to plumage or color is common, and this is especially true when it comes to ducks.

But here’s the thing. My selection of Field Guide bird species was initially biased both by geography (which I’m generally okay with, although I feature more “world birds” these days) and sex (which I’m not okay with). When I released the Field Guide : Cinnamon Teal (Female) poster, I’d created posters for 60 birds that don’t exhibit color sexual dimorphism; in other words, these are bird species in which the male and female look the same. I’d also created posters for 58 birds that do exhibit such dimorphism – 48 male birds, and just 10 female birds. I was unhappy with that 51/41/8 percent disparity and I commited to dramatically improving the ratio going forward. Admittedly, because it is so often the case that the females of sexually dimorphic species are relatively drab compared to the males, my interest in creating posters that people will want to buy is directly implicated in the unfortunate, but unsurprising sexual imbalance. The Field Guide project is not just about sales, though; I’d like for the color columns to be as representative a sampling as possible.

But let’s back up a moment. That word “drab” I used above, meaning faded, dull, commonplace, unremarkable. First, unremarkable plumage coloration is valuable when it comes to nesting success; no one wants to be sporting technicolor when you’re trying to be on the DL. Second, I think any artist or designer with a good eye would take a look at the likes of this mostly analogous color column with a splash of orange and wee bit of blue and tell you it’s lovely. Me likey.

Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).

Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.