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When is a blue bird not a Bluebird?

© Terrie Murray

One of the most enjoyable aspects of being considered an expert on birds is responding to questions about birds and birding. It started with my coworkers back when I was working full- time at a law office. Questions usually started something like this:

"I saw this bird in my yard. It was dark blue and had a topknot on his head. It was really pretty. Can you tell me what it was?"

Let's see. Dark blue bird, topknot, must be a "Steller's Jay." My co-worker was delighted, and thereafter never failed to let me know what "her" Steller's Jay was up to. I told her jays were very fond of peanuts, so she started putting peanuts out on her deck railing. It wasn't long before she was back in my office.

"I saw this new bird, coming for the peanuts. It was little, with a black and white head."

"Black-capped chickadee. They're common in Portland." I got out my field guide to birds, which I kept in my desk drawer for just such occasions, and found a picture of "her" chickadee. That afternoon she went out and bought a chickadee-sized feeder and began offering peanut chips.

Another co-worker came into my office and announced that she had seen a really pretty bird while they had been walking along the river over the weekend.

"It was black, with a big red spot on each wing. Do you know what it was?"

"Sounds like a Red-winged Blackbird."

"You're making that up, aren't you?"

"No, really. A Red-winged Blackbird." I got out my book and showed her.

Sometimes the questions are a little more difficult.

"Terrie, I found this feather in my yard. Can you tell me what kind of bird it came from?"

Hmm. The feather was fairly large, so it probably couldn't have come from anything smaller than a robin. It was speckled, and mostly gray, but a little bit of flush-color at the top. I got out my book and finally narrowed it down to two: Northern Flicker or Mourning Dove. I walked down to my co-worker's desk and showed her the two pictures. She pointed to the Mourning Dove.

"That's it! I've seen them in the trees in my yard."

Mystery solved.

More recently, I was chatting with a couple of friends about my Birdathon experience this past May.

"Did you really identify 211 species? How do you tell one from another?"

I explained that I identify roughly half the birds by song, the other half by sight, and that you learn to tell a lot by habitat. If I'm in a stream-side riparian area, I know that certain birds are likely to be present, such as Common Yellowthroats and other warblers. When I'm in the high desert, there are birds like Horned Larks and Vesper Sparrows which are fairly common there, but I know I'm not likely to see something like an American Dipper or a Chickadee. You learn to narrow your focus of possibilities depending on where you are.

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