Now is a good time
to learn more about sexual dimorphism in birds, the differences in the appearance of male and female birds. Often, the young ones look very similar to the females, which helps them staying safe / less visible when there is danger. Teenage birds can be hard to tell apart. Here is a Red-winged Blackbird, looking very much like the female, but if you look closely, you can see some reddish tones shooting in on the shoulders in the second photo, beginnings of the famous red epaulets of the males.
