Hi everyone - I am wondering if you could help me as a 'beginner in all things birds'. While watching and taking photos of the birds around me, I really struggle with identifying the numerous small brown birds in particular (as opposed to the more colourful ones). Although I refer to my RSPB handbook, the similarities in the hand drawn pictures can be plentiful.
I find that unless I know the name of the bird to begin with, I end up doing a time consuming page by page search.
I have seen that so many of you on this forum have some wonderful photos, and would like to ask if you could post any on here for me with an ID for the particular 'little brown bird'. Even better if you could add a description of anything in particular to look out for too.
Many thanks for your help - I will get there in the end ......
OK, this is starting to get seriously educating!
@Roy, you say a stripe that is ABOVE the eye is called supercilium. Is that the same if the stripe is THROUGH the eye, i.e bluetit?
@Galatas, your first pic is a house sparrow and you're just showing us the comparisson with the reed bunting in pic 2?
All good stuff!
Re sexual dimorphism (males and females looking different), it depends on the bird but there are trends within groups. For example nearly all of our finches and buntings are sexually dimorphic, but most British tits and warblers aren't.
Jason d said:@Galatas, your first pic is a house sparrow and you're just showing us the comparisson with the reed bunting in pic 2?
No , that's a male Reed Bunting.
Aike... please elaborate.... thats totally gone over my head...
A stripe through the eye is an eyestripe :) So a Blue Tit has a dark eyestripe and white supercilium.
Sorry, didnt mean to post that twice. I get the bluetit example, thank you :)
Galatas, they look so different in the pics!
Hi-
www.rspb.org.uk/.../251991.aspx
try that link for help
S
There's often some variation between individuals particularly those of different ages. That's the fun of birding ; -) Viewing angle and light conditions can also make birds appear different.