What’s that bird in my yard?

This was the title of an email I received recently. I get asked this a lot and I love it. It becomes a fun game for me, a test for my skills as a birder. And sometimes I figure out the person’s mystery bird. And yeah, it’s just sometimes, ‘cuz sometimes I can’t get all the information I need to make a guess much less an id.

Back to that email, here’s the rest of it:

Hi. I want to know what this bird is that was in my yard the other day. You’ll probably know. It’s brown, with a red patch on the back of it’s neck, a white patch on the top of it’s tale when it flies. It’s a little bigger then a blue jay. It has a short neck. It’s legs aren’t very long either. It’s beak was thin, and sort of longish. It was diving it into the ground in my front yard. I think it might have been getting ants? Not sure. Any clue? Thanks either way. Bye bye

I’m telling you, I almost cried when I read this, well not really, but I was really happy-excited with the description. Lots of clues provided by this person who got a great look at this bird from head to tail. AND, they noted behavior as well – BONUS! Wow, I thought, this is the perfect example of how describe a bird; this was an example for others.

Let’s break it down bird-geek style and see why this is a great description:

• Red Patch, White Patch, Brown are good color observations. Kick that up a notch by noting where they where located on the bird: red on the back of the neck, white on top of the tail. Now we’ve got the colors isolated on parts of the bird which could lead to key id features.
• Bigger than a Blue Jay is brilliant! Whenever noting the size use a comparison bird – chickadee, blue jay, crow are all good ones to use.
• Behaviors are great clues! This person noted that when it flew the white patch on the top of the tail was visible, so pay attention when the bird flies. The description also mentions the bird diving on the ground, possibly eating ants. Watch what it eats and how it eats, another tool to help make the id of the mystery bird.
• Looking at the parts: short neck, not very long legs, and thin-longish bill – super! Beaks can be a huge clue to identification, sometimes it’s not just the shape but the color. Think of legs the same way, length, color and then how the bird uses their legs. Are they perching? wading? hopping? As simple as it is, the description of the neck is a good one too.
• Where you are is also a good clue, especially if you can describe the habitat. Are you near a field? a pond? a forest? pine forest? leafy forest? This person mentions seeing the bird in the yard which did help me, but only because the rest of the description was so solid.

I emailed the person a link to the bird I thought they might have in their yard – and BINGO, got it right! And that’s no credit to me really but to their great description of what they saw. What do you see when you use this person’s description to create a picture of the bird in your head? Don’t click here until you give it a go being a bird-sleuth yourself!

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Tags: bird, bird identification, bird watching, birding, birdwatching, field guide, id, mystery bird, parts of a bird

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