New At Bird Watching? Here’s How You Identify Birds
If you like bird watching, it is a certainty that you’ll want to learn how to identify these birds. It can be exciting to find a bird you haven’t seen before, but it’s even more exciting to be able to identify them. It’s not always a simple thing to do, though. It can be frustrating if you don’t have the proper information to work with. A good field guide can be your friend in this regard. However, you’ll have to have some knowledge of your own even to be able to accurately use the field guide. So, if you are a beginner at bird watching, the following are a few tips that can help you more accurately identify birds.
The Size of the Bird
Take a look at the size of a bird if you don’t know how to identify it. Is it the size of a robin, a small sparrow, a chicken, or even an ostrich? Is the bird plump, skinny, short, or very long? Take the entire body into account, including the beak, tail and wings (both size and shape) when making this evaluation.
What Color or Pattern Is the Bird?
What colors does the bird exhibit? Certain birds tend to exhibit certain colors, so you can identify some birds by color or pattern alone. However, colors can trick you from time to time. The lighting can affect the color so that the bird appears a different color than he or she really is. In addition, make sure you note colors on each part of the body as well. Are the legs of a certain color, or are the wings? Are there any specific and unique markings anywhere on the body that you could use to help identify the bird? With a good pair of birding binoculars you can take your time to study the birds up close without scaring them away.
What’s Your Location?
You can also identify birds by location in many cases. Take a look around and figure out where you are. Are you out on the water, deep inside a large forest, or are you perhaps doing some backyard birding? Certain types of bird tend to live in certain types of terrain. If the bird’s in the water, wading or swimming, can it actually climb a tree, too? Does it fly, and if so, where and how? How does it move its tail? These are all questions to ask that can help you out when identifying the birds that you are watching.
Use Your Ears
Beginners at bird watching need to know to listen to birds too. Many species of bird can be identified by their songs. If you listen closely, you might even see some birds that you would never have seen otherwise. It’s not always helpful to listen when you identify a bird, but it’s another piece of information that can definitely help you.
So, next time you go out bird watching, keep all of these tips in mind. They’ll help you identify the birds you see and have a more fun and rewarding experience out in the wild.