10 Steps to Identifying a Bird

Look at the size. About how big is the bird from the tip of its bill to the end of its tail?

What color is it? Is it all one color or several colors? Is it mostly blue, red or yellow?

               

Observe the bird’s head. What color and shape is the bill? Is there a crest or a different color on its head? Does it have a ring around it’s eye? Any color under it’s bill?

 

Look at the wings. Are they pointed or rounded at the ends? Are there any markings such as white wing-bars, or a patch of color on them?

 

Look at the bird’s breast. Is it light or dark? Streaked or plain? Does it have spots? What color is it?

 

Look at the tail. Is it long or short? Forked or rounded at the tip? What color is it? Are there bars of white across it? Are the outer feathers white or a different color?

 

Where is the bird? Is it perched high in a tree, or on a powerline? Is it flitting among thick underbrush? Is it hopping along the ground?

 

Can you see what it’s eating? Did you see the bird eating berries off a bush, seed out of your bird feeder or clinging to a suet feeder?

 

Other details. Is the bird exhibiting any interesting behavior? Is it flicking it’s tail, diving from a perch to get a bug or scratching in the ground?

 

Now get out the field guide. Using the clues about our mystery bird, we’re looking for a small brown bird that mostly stays on the ground, eating seeds. Most of the small, brown birds are sparrows—a good place to start!

Now look the range map for each sparrow. Is the bird found in your area? Which birds show a reddish cap? Which have a plain, gray breast with a slightly notched tail? Which sparrows have a bright white streak over the eye?  With these and the other clues, try to guess what our mystery bird is.  Use the same steps and observations whenever you encounter a new bird that you're not familiar with--pretty soon, knowing what to look for will become second nature!