Identification of Birds

"Form to Function" is the term of the day. This means that the shape of something is what allows that "something" to move or be used in a certain way. The "something" can be visible, like a wing or an arm or it can be invisible like the muscle structure of an animal or bird. According to "A Field Guide to Birds" by Roger Tory Peterson, there are eight visual categories:

1) swimmers (like ducks)

2) aerialists (like gulls)

3) long-necked waders (herons, cranes)

4) smaller waders (plovers, sandpipers)

5) fowl-like birds (grouse, quail)

6) birds of prey (hawks, eagles, owls)

7) nonpasserine land birds

8) passerine (perching) birds

Observations of size (is it tiny or very large), shape (is it plump or slender), wing shape (are they rounded or pointed), tail shape (is it forked, square-tipped, notched, rounded or pointed), field marks (is the coloring spotted, streaked or plain), tail patterns (is there white patches or sides), rump patches (is there obvious color patterns on its back end), eyes (are there stripes or rings), wings (are there bars of color), wing patterns (are there patches of color, stripes or tips of color or are they plain) all are indications about the species of bird you see. Other observations include; behavior (how does it hold or move its tail, how does it sit, does it climb trees, does it swim or wade), flight (does it undulate up and down, hover, glide and/or soar or does it fly straight and fast).

The shapes of the feet on a bird give you clues as to where the bird usually lives. Web-footed birds would normally be found near water, like lakes, ponds and marshes. Their diet usually consists of fish, frogs and/or bugs and grubs that live in very wet areas. You normally would find these birds either walking on the ground, swimming in the water or flying. Birds (without webbing) having toes with nails or talons are more apt to be found perched in trees when they are not flying. They will occasionally walk on the ground while feeding.

The coloring of birds is important in identifying the species you are looking at. In many species the male's plumage is more brightly colored than the females. This is called "dimorphism" meaning there is a difference in the appearance and morphology of males and females. In the majority of species with dimorphic plumage, the male is more brightly colored and the female is more camouflaged (usually brown, black and beige colors) and does most of the incubation.

Go To Page: 1 2