How to Identify Birds

The first thing a birder wants to do when starting out is to learn to identify birds. This article gives great pointers...could not have said it any better myself....

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Identifying birds involves some basic categories: visual categories such as size, shape, and field marks; behaviour categories such as habits, flight patterns, habitat, and song or call; and geographic characteristics such as migration and range.

Everyone knows a few broad categories of birds: swimmers, long-legged waders, aerialists, perching birds, woodpeckers, chicken-like birds, and birds of prey like hawks, eagles, and owls.
Categorizing a bird into one of these can be a good first step, eliminating many other possibilities.

It is also important to estimate the bird’s size and shape; was it tiny like a hummingbird, or big like an eagle?

You can use familiar birds as a reference; e.g. it was bigger than a robin but smaller than a crow.
Shape can help to eliminate many possibilities: birds can be slender like a heron, stout like a grouse, or streamlined; they can have crests, or long necks, or long or hook-shaped bills.
After the first two categories of size and shape, field marks can be crucial in either eliminating possibilities or nailing a bird’s identification.

A field mark is a distinguishing feature of a bird’s plumage, and can include marks such as wing-bars, eye-rings, and crown stripes; pay particular attention to marks on the head, wings, and tail.

In order to distinguish field marks, you need to learn the names for the parts of a bird; experts know these very well.

Of course there are the legs, wings, tail, bill, and head … but what about the nape, belly throat, and rump – or even more obscure parts such as the scapulars, under-tail coverts, and auricular? Any decent bird book includes a diagram showing all the parts of the bird that it uses for identification. Study these parts; it will pay off.

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