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Bird spotting

By Rex Fisher

Tricks of the Trade (Part 3- Identifying them)

The temptation with identifying birds is to try to note every different coloured marking and match it to a field guide. In some cases that works easily eg a cockatoo type bird with a pink chest and grey back is undoubtedly a Galah (if it had a white back it would be a Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo, one of the outback’s highlights). However some birds only show their full colours, and then only in one gender, at certain times of the year or at maturity. But let’s assume that whilst travelling I see a red chested bird with a dark back, dark head, a white slash on the wing and a white spot on the forehead. It was sitting on stumps and flittering about catching insects so I think that it is a Robin and yep I’m right but oh oh I have two choices – it is either a Flame or Scarlet Robin.

Due to the lighting conditions, my unfamiliarity and the fact that the two species didn’t conveniently line up side by side for comparison I can’t be sure if its back was black or grey or if the forehead spot was large or small. However if I had made a sketch showing that the red chest colour came right up the throat to just under the chin, ie Flame Robin, I could have clinched it. On the Scarlet Robin the throat is black. Compare illustrations of a White-cheeked Honeyeater, a very common resident in our dune areas, with those of a New Holland Honeyeater and you will see how their differences are mainly subtle variations in the amount of white around the cheek and neck. So it is not just a case of noting colours and marks but also a bit of detail about the patterns of those colours.

Now it’s not always that difficult and if you still want to take the challenge here are a few other things to note and I suggest that you actually draw some of these things as you observe them. You don’t need to be an artist but I have found that making sketches with notes pointing to features has developed my observation skills.

BILL – note length, shape (eg pointed, stubby, fine or stocky, hooked, curved down), colour (if it can be seen) and size relative to head (or body if it is large). Look at a field guide and note that there are two largish, plain looking waders with long down curved bills, the Whimbrel and Eastern Curlew. See how the Whimbrel’s bill is about the length of the head and neck combined whereas the Curlew’s is much longer – those sorts of relationships can help with an id.

WINGS – if roosting are the bird’s folded wings longer than its tail, are there any distinguishing marks/patterns, are they drooped? If it is flying are the wings short or long, rounded or pointed, do they make a noise. Does it fly fast and straight, does it dip up and down, does it soar or glide, does it hover, does it flutter about chasing insects? As an exercise watch a Crow, a Currawong and a Magpie in flight and note the differences – see if you can pick them out without looking at colour.

TAILS – are they long, rounded, square, notched or fishtailed at the end, do they fan out in flight, in raptors are they longer or shorter than the wing width when soaring? Does the bird hold its tail cocked or flat, is it fanned, wagged, bobbed or subtly shivered?

BODY AND HEAD SHAPE – does it look sleek/slim, dumpy, rounded, short or long necked. What is its size relative to something you might know such as a Crow, Eagle, Pigeon or Fairy-wren? Does it have a crest? 

CALLS – I find it very difficult to match call I hear with descriptions in guides and many species also have quite a vocabulary or mimic. There are recordings available which might help you if you are trying to track down a certain species but I think the key is to notice hey that’s different, I wonder what it is? Or I remember that it’s a .....

Other BEHAVIOUR including feeding eg on the ground, in the lower foliage, in the upper canopy; in flight high up, just above the ground, just out from the foliage; on insects, fruits or nectar; in the water by diving or bobbing. You might also notice breeding displays or territorial behaviour including the expulsion of last year’s young before this year’s breeding.

All of these factors can help you to identify groups of birds and actual species but better still they help you to recognise “JIZZ” ie general impressions of shapes, size, flight patterns and feeding behaviour that indicate that you really are tuning in.

PHOTO: A notebook sketch to aid identification, in this case a Mistletoebird.

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