There's an old saying, ‘a crow in a crowd is a rook, a rook on its own is a crow'.
This succinctly describes how carrion crows are mostly encountered alone or in pairs, whereas rooks roost, nest and feed together in large, sociable congregations.
Although this isn’t infallible - numbers of crows might be seen together where there are good feeding opportunities, for example - it's nevertheless a good rule of thumb that can help when learning how to distinguish between these commonly confused birds.
Another old adage is used to tell the difference between treecreepers and nuthatches, phrased wonderfully by Molly Martin as 'if you see a bird creeping up a tree, it’s a Treecreeper, if it’s going down the hatch, it’s a Nuthatch!'
This is another rule of thumb: treecreepers only climb up or along trees, whereas nuthatches must be one of the only birds that can go headfirst down a tree.
Again, it’s not foolproof - nuthatches are equally adept at going up a tree - but it’s a general principle that helps with bird identification.
I'm interested in gathering any other sayings, rhymes or phrases that serve as rules of thumb for learning and remembering ways of identifying birds, so please share below any you’ve encountered or even created yourself.
Note: At the moment, I'm not collecting mnemonic devices for learning bird songs (although I’ve always found the phrase ‘little bit of bread with no cheese’ a delightful way of describing the call of a yellowhammer), but rather those that help identify birds from sight or from their behaviours.
I've thought of a couple more rules of thumb:
If it hovers, it’s a kestrel
(of course, buzzards and other birds can seem to be hovering as they ride the wind, but the kestrel is the only UK bird that truly hovers powered by its own wingbeats)
Apparently, Bill Oddie once said something along the lines of ‘if you hear a woodland bird song and don’t know what it is, it’s probably a great tit’, referring to their variety of calls beyond the main 'tea-cher, tea-cher' or 'see-saw, see-saw' call. In towns, the same rule of thumb might apply to starlings owing to their numerous squeaks, whistles and mimicry.
Any more?
If you see something turning over stones on the beach then its a ..................
The tide
A beachcomber
Hi
when a blackbird lands it normally cocks its tail- a Ring Ouzel normally doesn't
S
For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides, binoculars, scopes, tripods, etc - put 'Birding Tips' into the search box
Shags often look pot bellied in flight- Cormorants tend not to
Pomarine Skuas are very steady in flight even in windy weather- Arctics move a little off track- Long Taileds get pushed all over the place
Ringed Plovers look hump backed and have shiort rear ends
LRPs look nervous and have long back ends
Godwits- leg length above the knee.......