The Collins Complete British Birds book has a photo of a female Chaffinch which does not seem to be anything like the illustration in the RSPB identification section of the web site. As a novice bird watcher this is very confusing.
The attached is a very poor quality photo of what I believe is one in my garden & I would appreciate any confirmation or otherwise. Its size was about that of a sparrow. Many thanks.
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Yes that looks like a female Chaffinch to me! I used to have the same problem with the RSPB illustrations. I would say if in doubt, go with Collins!
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Check it: http://sarahwestsblog.blogspot.co.uk/
Many thanks for that. As a novice I initially thought the RSPB site would be the best place to come for bird identification but that seems to be in doubt. It is a shame because if people do not keep comeing to the site for that then the RSPB will be missing out on donations, members etc.
Well I think that in their illustrations they try to make the key features stand out a bit more to make ID a bit easier. But in the Collins book they're just drawn exactly how they are, and the drawings and descriptions are so much clearer, so I personally find it easier to use. Most of the RSPB ones are pretty good though, and they've got the Bird Idenitifier that you can do online if you're really stuck, which is always useful!
If you have internet access why not use it to ID birds? Simply type the name into a search engine, or better still go to Flickr where you will find thousands of images of every bird in the world! Flickr uses tags to help find images - simply use the tags such as "Chaffinch" "Female Chaffinch" "Fringilla coelebs" and you will find pictures from every angle, both mature and juvenile birds, taken at all times of year in all conditions.
The idea of the RSPB guide is to illustrate distinguishing features to avoid mistaking one bird for another, and it does work perfectly if you have a clear image to go by, or a good memory.
BTW the bird in the picture is definitely a female chaffinch. The most similar bird is a female greenfinch, which has a thicker bill and doesn't have the thin dark stripe behind the eye.
I realise that now spolky but initially as a complete novice I was accepting the RSPB info on face value. When looking at a bird through binoculars (and hence a clear image) with an almost uniformly light brown head there was no clue in the RSPB info on Chaffinch to suggest that this was remotely close. Surely the RSPB should be encouraging people to use their site by providing accurate info rather than, as you are suggesting, having to use other peoples sites to get accurate info.
Thank you for the confirmation of identification.