The Sunday News
Introduction
BIRDS are a part of our everyday life. By learning how to identify birds we can be more aware of our local biological diversity and be more attentive to our local environment in general. To add to the excitement, we can use our bird identification skills to collect valuable data for scientists through citizen science projects. This article offers hints and tips on identifying birds paying particular reference to …
The way that some birds lurk about, one would think that they are afraid of showing off their attractive colours and do not want anyone to identify them. And this is the case, no doubt, as they must somehow evade predators from both above and below. Often, their quick movements allow us only a glimpse. Still, one will be able to identify even the most secretive bird using the key clues to identification described below;
Silhouette — Shape and Size
The structural features of the head and the size and shape of the body provide crucial information for the identification of many bird species. It is usually possible to “narrow down” the identity of a bird in the field to just a few possibilities by determining its overall proportions: Is the body slender or thickset, is the neck and legs long or short, are the wings short, broad, and rounded or long, narrow, and pointed? How many toes are on the foot?
The shape of a bird’s bill is also an extremely helpful clue that is obvious from a silhouette. Cardinals, finches and sparrows have short, conical bills for crushing seeds. Woodpeckers have chisel-shaped bills for working dead wood. Hawks, eagles and falcons, on the other hand, have sharp, hooked bills that make quick work of meat. Shorebirds have slender bills of all lengths for probing at different depths into the sand and mud.
Size is also an important field mark, and field guides do list the size of birds next to pictures. A bird’s overall size may be an easy way to identify birds with similar colours and markings. It is important to take note of the body length, wingspan and body proportions for accurate bird identification. If there is no way to measure the bird, compare its size to more familiar birds and objects for a rough size estimate.
Plumage
Plumage characteristics are what really draw a lot of people into birding more so with the varied beautiful colours that different bird species exhibit. The distinguishing plumage clues that identify different species are known as “field marks.” These include such things as breast spots, wing bars (thin lines along the wings), eye rings (circles around the eyes), eyebrows (lines over the eyes) and eye lines (lines through the eyes).
Some field marks are best seen when a bird is in flight. Some families of birds can be broken into even smaller groups based on one or two simple field marks. For example, warblers are fairly evenly divided between those that have wing bars and those that do not. So if you see a warbler-like bird, look quickly to see if it has wing bars. Sparrows, on the other hand, can be separated into two smaller groups based on whether or not the breast is streaked.
Behaviour
Ornithologists organise birds into family groups that share certain structural characteristics. Identifying family resemblances is often helpful in identifying birds in the field. Behavioural traits also provide some good clues. A bird’s behaviour – how it flies, forages or generally comports itself – is one of the best clues to its identity. Hawks have a “serious” demeanour, crows are gregarious. Woodpeckers climb up the sides of tree trunks searching for grubs and flycatchers on the other hand spend most of their time sitting upright on an exposed perch. When they see a bug cruising into range they quickly dart from their perch, catch the meal, and then return to the same perch or another one nearby. Finches spend a lot of their time on the ground in search of fallen seeds and wading birds, such as Herons, are less impetuous and hunt slowly with great patience and stealth.
Even the way a bird props its tail gives some clues as to which species or family it might be. Spotted Sandpipers bounce their tails and rumps rapidly up and down as if doing a stylish dance step. Some thrushes and flycatchers, on the other hand, move their tails frequently but slowly, with a wave-like motion. A birder can even identify some birds just by the way they fly. Most finches and woodpeckers move through the air with an undulating flight pattern, flapping their wings for short bursts and then tucking them under for a short rest. One group of raptors, the buteos or soaring hawks, circle the sky suspended on outstretched wings. Most falcons, another group of raptors, fly with strong wing beats and rarely hover.
Habitat
Birds segregate themselves according to habitat type and are sometimes quite fussy in selecting an area as home. Characteristics such as the types of trees, density of plants, urbanisation, water sources and elevation can be effective clues. Also note where the bird is observed for comparison to current range maps for different species. Wading birds and ducks, for example, prefer watery habitats rather than dry upland areas. Birders must usually spend many hours afield before they are able to associate different species with different habitat types. I suggest one should develop a key to habitats they frequent and keep notes of where you see different species.
Sounds
Birds have unique songs and calls, and the voice is often all that is needed to identify many of the birds you encounter. If each species did not have a distinctive call or song, there would be a lot of confusion out there when birds tried to communicate. Listening to recordings helps considerably when you are trying to learn bird vocalisations. However, no matter how many recordings you listen to, there is no substitute for going out into the field. There is something about the association of voice and bird that helps to fix both in memory. Plus, bird vocalisations are complex and no set of recordings can hope to encompass all the variety and geographic variations that can be experienced firsthand out in nature.
Conclusion
It is not possible to identify every bird in the field. Field trips with experienced birders can often help to speed you along the bird identification learning curve and a variety of private and public groups offer bird tours. Birders experience something new every time they go out. Even if they do not see a new species for the first time, they might see a new behaviour, hear a new vocalisation. You have access to birds and wonderful bird identification resources, so what is stopping you from teaching your children and students skills that they can use to make meaningful scientific contributions.
