PRIMER #1 ON BIRD IDENTIFICATION? (5/11/01)

You know your yard birds quite well. You don’t have to look twice to put a name to a chickadee or a cardinal. but now that spring migration is in full swing, how do you identify a bird you don’t recognize when it puts in an appearance in your yard? Or, how can you find out what an unfamiliar bird is when you are far from home?

Have you ever encountered a bird you just couldn’t identify? I’ve heard the following (with variations) many times. “I saw a sort of small bird with red on the head at my feeder, and I don’t know what it is.” To solve the mystery wherever you are, take a field guide in hand and go back to the basics. Ask yourself:. How does its size compare to that of a sparrow, a robin or a crow? Is the bird’s shape chunky like a starling’s or slender like a mourning dove? Look at its bill. Is it as thick as a cardinal’s, as thin as a wren’s, short like a sparrow’s or long like a woodpecker’s?

Next study the tail. Is it as long as a mockingbird’s, medium like a robin’s or short like a meadowlark’s? Is it forked (barn swallow)? notched? square-tipped? rounded? pointed (mourning dove)? tipped in white (blue jay)? or show white outer tail feathers (junco)?

Does the bird have any prominent feature, such as a crest (titmouse, cardinal)? What is its color? Consider exactly where it is and what it is doing. Does it eat seeds or suet at a feeder? Is it in an open area such as a lawn, in thick tangles, at a marsh or in the woods? If it’s on the ground, does it run and stop in the manner of robins and other thrushes, hop like a jay or sparrow, walk like a starling and blackbirds, probe energetically in the ground, or scratch the ground in the manner of sparrows and towhees? Is it perched in a tree or climbing up one?

Next, observe its posture..If it holds its tail up, think wren. If it’s perched, does it hold its tail down or does it raise and lower it? Does it sit on an exposed branch, dart out and return (flycatcher)? If it’s on the side of a tree, does it work upwards (creeper) or down (nuthatch), any which way (black-and-white warbler), jerkily (woodpecker)?

Notice how it flies. Goldfinches and woodpeckers dip up and down. Robins and most songbirds fly straightaway. Swallows, swifts and nighthawks, all pursuing flying insects, fly erratically. Gulls, hawks and vultures soar, swallows and terns skim the surface of water. Herons beat wings slowly, whereas songbirds, falcons and ducks beat rapidly. (More next time on distinguishing one type of hawk from another.)

Another important clue to uncovering a bird’s identity is to look at its associates. Sometimes female birds have few distinguishing marks, but when they are always in the company of a male, consider whether your bird could be his companion.

What it has taken me 700 words to say, you can act on in less than a minute. Early on in this article I alluded to a field guide. Your observations teamed with a good guide will provide you with an accurate identification of any unfamiliar bird you encounter. The latest guide by Kenn Kaufman is an excellent tool, but Peterson’s, Stokes’s and National Geographic’s are just as useful.

My next article will discuss how to make the most of your field guide by utilizing its pictures and text to the max. I’ll also give you the identity of this week’s bird photo. Were you able to identify it? You might find it useful to clip this column and its successor and keep them in your field guide.

GRAPHIC: Can you identify this bird? Answer in my next column. Photo by Joyce Leary.