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 ......
Ta, Ricky
Thanks for the link seymouraves - I am going to make it my task of the week to learn this diagram!
Great male/female comparison pictures doggie! Its amazing how much more colourful the males can be!
Thanks seymouraves, thats a great help! I will have to print that. Cheers Galatas and Alan, I now have learnt something!
Cheers, Jason
Jason d said: Aike... please elaborate.... thats totally gone over my head...
Aike... please elaborate.... thats totally gone over my head...
If a species is 'sexually dimorphic', it just means that the males and females look distinctly different in some way. Chaffinches are sexually dimorphic - the males are colourful and the females are basically brown. Robins are not sexually dimorphic - the males and females look almost exactly the same (to us - the Robins have no trouble working it out!).
Some groups of birds are more likely to show sexual dimorphism than others. The finches you're likely to see in your garden are all sexually dimorphic except one - the Goldfinch. The tits you're likely to see in your garden are not sexually dimorphic except one - the Great Tit.
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Hi-
as I've mentioned b4- for a great start on improving your bird knowledge read the massive intro / forward to Lars Jonsson's Birds of Europe- it's brilliant
S
For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides, binoculars, scopes, tripods, etc - put 'Birding Tips' into the search box
These forums are great - in less than 90 minutes I have seen 20 pictures of 'little brown birds', seen explanations of some of the differences between males and females, heard about the different types of beaks, have been introduced to the word 'supercilium', learned some bird topography and have downloaded a fantastic bird app!!!
And its all your fault red kite lol.....
The link is great thanks doggie - that makes it more understandable when looking at all of the families of birds! I assume the main name each group is under is their scientific name for their respective group?
I think I am right in saying (if not the experts will quickly shoot me down) in some species the female is larger than the male. Females need more body weight for when they lay eggs.
My gallery here
Checkout the forums' Community HOMEPAGE for lots of interesting posts from other members.
Unknown said: Just out of interest see if you can open this website Red Kite www.javierblasco.arrakis.es/families.htm
Just out of interest see if you can open this website Red Kite www.javierblasco.arrakis.es/families.htm
This is an ace website. A small word of caution though - as it is Spanish there are some British birds missing (and some non-British birds included), and in a very few cases the bird shown is a distinctly different subspecies to that which occurs in Britain (eg Yellow Wagtail and Stonechat).
The information on that site looks brilliant - I love the up close and personal photos on it!