WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN THE FIELD

Here are some helpful hints:

1. Try to put the bird in a basic family. While we may look at color first, you would never compare a reddish duck with a reddish tanager. So you ask yourself, is it a duck, is it a dove, is it a heron, is it a gull, is it a hawk, is it a sparrow.

2. What is its size? Compare it to a familiar bird, a crow, a robin, etc. When you have established that the bird is smaller than a crow, but slightly larger than a robin, you have already narrowed down the field considerably.

3. What is its shape? Is it slender like a cuckoo or chunky like a robin? What do the wings look like, how long are the legs, what is the shape and length of the bill? Is the tail long or short–is it notched, forked, wedge-shaped, rounded?

4. How does the bird behave? Does it pump its tail, does it wag its tail, does it dart out from a perch sallying for insects, does it feed on the ground, does
it hover, or is it a glider? Does it wade in the water, does it teeter or bob while it walks near water? For that matter, does it walk or hop, or both? These are all excellent clues.

5. Observe its f light characteristics. When it f lies, is it a straight trajectory, undulating, lurching, soaring? Does it travel in f locks, in pairs or alone?

6. What are the specific field marks? Plain breast, streaked or spotted breast, wing bars, white outer tail feathers, f lash pattern, white rumps, white bands on tail, or patches on wings or on rump, stripes over the eye, through the eye, around the eye? Does it wear spectacles? Does it sport a jaunty crest or wear a black mask? Does it have a whisker stripe or a red throat patch?

7. What is its voice like? A long melodic warble, a hoarse caw, does it say its name Chickadee-dee-dee-dee, etc.? Does it have a distinctive call note or scold? Does it rustle dead leaves when it forages on the ground, does it drum like a woodpecker or make whistling sounds with its feathers?

8. When is it found? Is it here only in the spring and fall, thus a migrant? Is it here all the time, a permanent resident? Is it here only in the winter or only in the summer? Does it show up unpredictably? Check your field guide maps and regional check list to support your call.

9. Where is it found? This is one of the most important questions. Is it always found near the coast at the beach, in mudflats, in brackish or freshwater marshes, or is it a denizen of inland desert scrub, rocky outcrops, open fields, prairies, deep woods, or bottomlands, along fence-rows and edges of thickets and woods, etc.? Habitat is by far one of the best clues to the identity
of your bird. Most birds are dependably habitat specific.