Bird Watching Tips: Identifying Birds

Steps to Identifying Birds

• 1. See a bird
• 2. Watch the bird for as long as you can, making notes about its appearance and behavior.
• 3. Consult a field guide to confirm or find an identity for the bird. (The above diagram will help you identify the parts of a bird that are used for identification in the field guide.)

When you are looking at an unidentified bird, there is a mental checklist you should be going through. You should ask yourself such questions as: What's it doing? What size is it? What shape is it? What color is it? What are its main field marks? Does it have a long tail, wing bars, an eyeline?

Please click here to find out more about bird nests.

Source: Dawe, Neil and Karen, The Bird Book, New York, Workman Publishing, 1998.

Return to Index Page.