5 Key Points For Bird Recognition.

[Firstlight]

What are your 5 (five) key points to aid bird recognition?
This question is prompted by a recent debate over a gull picture.The hapless bird ended up a cross between ring-casp-herr-lbb gull robin!!!:wink::wink:
So assuming I get an image from my old D1H and for reasons various it is not too good, what other key features can I/should I note so that when I come back on here with my less than perfect image + my 5 key points/features you can say without hesitation it's a *******.
Please keep it simple and concise, and the question is for all birds and not gulls persay.Gulls just happened to prompt the question!
regards David.

[Colin Key]

Not sure that there is an answer to this, except to say that "the camera can, and often does, lie". And, sometimes, your own eyes do not actually tell the whole truth.

Colin

[Joe stockwell]

that flipping gull is back but this time at rooksbury mill so could get a better photo of it any ideas i still havent learnt anything

[john robinson]

One thing as a starter which I always ask when people ring me is " what was the bird doing and how big was it compared to a bird that you do know ? )
It goes a long way.
JohnR

[Colin Key]

that flipping gull is back but this time at rooksbury mill so could get a better photo of it any ideas i still havent learnt anything

Are you sure that this is the same bird which you posted on in your "Gull I.D." thread - the bill shape looks totally different now?

I will go for Herring Gull (I know you said you thought it was smaller, but HGs do vary and size can be very deceptive) which is what I said initially in post #4 of the other thread.

Colin

[JanJ]

It´s not the same individual. Larger white primary tips, slightly different pattern and shape of the bill and paler grey, if now that is reliable from these images. Herring Gull it is.

JanJ

[AndyB]

Hi David, it's difficult to generalise. Gulls can be really tough. When it comes to tricky species such as gulls and shorebirds, often the first step might be to age them (eg first winter plumages are distinct from adults) and if you can narrow it down to its age you can look for different features. As birders get more experienced, quite often they rely on jizz (gestalt) to quickly ID a common bird. For instance, an experienced seawatcher can pick out a Cory's Shearwater on limited views and easily separate it from a Great by its flight pattern or maybe ID a Bullfinch in silhouette without seeing its plumage. There are some useful field guides that have good forewords that discuss ID. Maybe others could post their favorites. Lars Jonsson's Birds of Europe has a good foreword that discusses some of these issues with great illustrations. Any others, what about Vinnicombe's ID book?

[Colin Key]

Hi David, it's difficult to generalise. Gulls can be really tough. When it comes to tricky species such as gulls and shorebirds, often the first step might be to age them (eg first winter plumages are distinct from adults) and if you can narrow it down to its age you can look for different features. As birders get more experienced, quite often they rely on jizz (gestalt) to quickly ID a common bird. For instance, an experienced seawatcher can pick out a Cory's Shearwater on limited views and easily separate it from a Great by its flight pattern or maybe ID a Bullfinch in silhouette without seeing its plumage. There are some useful field guides that have good forewords that discuss ID. Maybe others could post their favorites. Lars Jonsson's Birds of Europe has a good foreword that discusses some of these issues with great illustrations. Any others, what about Vinnicombe's ID book?

In the wake of the "Collins Bird Guide" Lars Jonsson's book seems to have slid into obscurity. I think it is an excellent book (and the one from which I have probably learned most in the past) and whilst some of the paintings are rather more "artistic" than "technical" I think that it is better than Collins in some areas (raptors in particular). It is his ability in text which I admire most - with relatively few words, and certainly less than the Collins guide, he seems able to pick out the most important physical and behavioural I.D. points. And as Andy says, the introductory sections are splendid.

Colin