Navigating to different windows of the same application

Please educate me if there is an elegant way of accomplishing this simple and common task from a long-time Windows user.

Let's say I have Thunderbird or Mail open, and I start writing a new message on a new message window. Then momentarily I click behind it to the inbox to check something; say, to find another address I need. Now, the New Message window has become buried under the Inbox window, and since it's smaller than the Inbox, I can't click on it to bring it back forward (unless, of course, some edge of it is sticking out from under the inbox).

If I was on windows, I'd just click on the New Message window's tile. The dock doesn't distinguish between different windows of the same program. Using Expose is cool, except it takes me several keystrokes or a keystroke plus the mouse to find what I'm looking for (plus F9 isn't as easy to reach as ALT-Tab, IMO), especially if I've got a lot of windows open. I like in Windows being able to visually scan all of the windows that exist without having to move the mouse, and then only need one mouse click to get to that window.

Perhaps there's a way to flip through the different windows in your current app? That would make things simpler and more elegant, but I certainly don't know how to do that. I'd love to hear your tips to make this transition go smoother!

EDIT - alright, F10 does that, I just remembered!

p.s. - also regarding Expose, if I've got several textedit windows open and they're all zoomed out (but with different file names), there's no way for me to identify them without first hovering over them to see their file names.