The 20 owl species in North America exhibit a great range in body sizes. While size itself is not the best diagnostic trait for identification, it is a useful characteristic to help dwindle the number of possible choices. This is especially useful considering that...
The ease or difficulty of identifying a particular bird is influenced by many factors, foremost among them the knowledge and experience of the birdwatcher. Other factors which might come into play include lighting conditions, age- or sex-related related plumage of the...
Every birdwatcher, no matter their skill level, runs into problems with bird identification. While expert birders will only be troubled by the occasional bird, novice birders may find a challenge with almost every species which flies by. And even for the experts, who...
There are four main traits about bird that will help you to quickly determine which group a particular bird species belongs to. With some species, it is possible to use just one of these features to arrive at a successful identification. For example, duck species can...
One of the frustrations that many novice birders run into is the tendency to mis-identify a lot of the birds they see, especially those birds which belong to the more difficult groups, such as the sparrows and flycatchers. This is not surprising since there can be,...
Is bird identification a skill, an art or just good science? Well, in fact, it’s a combination of all three. For instance, it takes some skill to tell one species of warbler from another, whereas distinguishing between juvenile Empidonax flycatchers is an art...
