How to Identify a Bird – Advice for Beginners

Even Novice Birders Can Identify Birds Using Features and Key Steps

Nov 16, 2008

Every experienced birder has a practiced method for bird identification. The experts offer good step by step advice for the rest of us.

A medium sized bird, foraging on ground at the edge of the woods, delivers a simple call note: “kee-ur.” The birder freezes and pulls her bird guide out of a pocket with one hand, raising her binoculars with the other. With a flurry of wings, the bird departs, leaving only the impression of a white rump. It might surprise a novice birder that it could still be possible to identify the bird, or at least narrow it down to a few possibilities.

First, Know Your Bird Guide

Unless you are friendly with a bird expert, the guide is your ultimate authority, so get to know your field guide and where you’ll find specific types of information. Before setting out, consult the guide about the habitat you’ll be birding in—which groups of birds are you likely to see? Many birds can be immediately ruled out, enabling you to turn quickly to the right sections in the guide.

Know the Parts of a Bird

Bird guides describe characteristics of birds by naming parts of the body. Familiarize yourself with the parts of a bird so that you can understand the guide when you read it in the field.

Look at the Bird for General Characteristics

Surprisingly, Edward W. Cronin and Ted Floyd both advise against going straight for the binoculars because you miss important general features. Look at posture and behavior—what is it doing? Look at body shape. Try to judge size relative to a bird that you know well.

If the bird flies away, watch for bars of colour on tail and wings, patches of colour on the rump or back, and wing and tail shape. Note its flight pattern. Roger Tory Peterson demonstrates that even the silhouette of a bird in flight or perching at a distance can help with identification (p. 14-17).

Listen for Song, Call Notes, and Flight Calls

Some birders rely as much on bird vocalization as on appearance. Most guides describe typical species vocalizations and Floyd provides a collection of MP3 audio files for reference and comparison.

Look at Field Marks – Identifying Features

If you manage to get a good view of the bird through binoculars, look for certain features. Check bill size and shape; look for eye stripes and rings; look for a crest, study the legs and feet. If the bird flies, look carefully for all of the features already mentioned. Using Peterson’s system, you should have enough information to identify the bird.

Name That Bird

Using the guidelines above, it’s possible to tentatively identify the bird at the edge of the wood, even without getting a good look at it. Our mystery bird is a land bird, too large for many groups including most of the songbirds, too small and behaving atypically for most birds of prey. Most of the chicken-like birds can be ruled out on the basis of size and/or range. It might be a dove, but its behavior, call note, and white rump suggest that it is a Northern Flicker, one of the larger woodpeckers.

Sources:

Getting Started in Bird Watching. Cronin, Edward W. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986.

Peterson First Guides: Birds. Peterson, Roger Tory. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986.

The copyright of the article How to Identify a Bird – Advice for Beginners in Bird Watching is owned by Rosemary Drisdelle. Permission to republish How to Identify a Bird – Advice for Beginners in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.