Send us a photoSend us a photo

There are more ways to identify birds than by their songs and calls. Birds can be identified by their size, shape and color too. Did you know that?

• Size can tell us a lot about the birds we spot. Knowing the size can help determine a bird order and family. And it can help narrow down the species. For example, birds of prey are much larger than songbirds. The osprey is bigger than the falcon, two birds of prey and members of the same bird order.
• A silhouette, the word birders use for the outline of an avian, can give us lots of clues about a bird's id. A bird's body shape and posture as well as the size of its head, legs and wings can all be seen in its silhouette. And if we look closely, we can make out the shape of bird's tail and bill from its profile. The Plover with its short bill looks different than the long-beaked Snipe when viewed side by side in black and white.
• Color and pattern, known as field marks, can make bird identification easy. Some birds have stripes on their heads. Some birds have patches on their wings. Some birds have colored beaks. Some have colored legs. And some birds have no markings at all making them easy to distinguish from birds that do. The Greenshank and Marsh Sandpiper, two wading birds with long bills and similar body shape, can be told apart by their field marks. The Marsh Sandpiper has red legs; the Greenshank's are yellow.