In a handful of other species, females sport brighter, fancier plumage than males. These include phalaropes, spotted sandpipers, painted snipes, wattled jacanas, and button quail. But in each of these cases, there is a reversal of usual sex roles, with males incubating eggs and females defending territories and fighting among themselves for access to males. “So these species are really the exceptions that prove the rule because they demonstrate that the competitive sex is the one most likely to have bright colors,” says Heinsohn.
