Instead of song, most woodpeckers use a mechanical drumming sound as their audio advertising display. It’s easy to tell when you hear a woodpecker, harder to tell which species. Nevertheless there are distinct differences between species, and with practice most drumming sounds can be recognized with a high level of confidence. I’m comparing just Downy […]
Identifying Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers by drumming sounds Read More »
Can you identify the sparrow shown in this photo? Read on for the discussion and answer below. Thanks to Jerry Tang for the photo and for bringing it to my attention. You can see more of his photos at http://tangsphoto.photoshelter.com
Sparrows and central spots Read More »
Michael Butler of Marathon, Ontario sent me the remarkable photo below, showing all four taxa of redpolls (four subspecies, two species) in one view (see more at his blog here: http://northshorenature.blogspot.com/ The Hornemann’s Hoary is the most distinctive – larger than the “typical” birds and very pale, also looking exceptionally fluffy and “well-padded” which is
Four redpoll taxa in one photo Read More »
Maybe, it depends how sure you want to be. Update July 2011 – See my new post on Back color of Moorhens for an additional clue to identification
Can Eurasian Common Moorhen be identified by sight? Read More »
A few years ago I was alerted to a subtle difference in the head patterns of Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers when I read a short note by Mark Szantyr with a nod to Julian Hough in the journal The Connecticut Warbler. He pointed out that Downy Woodpecker has a larger white patch on the sides of
A new clue for identifying Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers Read More »
I was recently studying and sketching the three species of American scoters in Revere, Massachusetts, and I was struck by the differences in head and body shapes. I thought those differences deserved to be highlighted in some new sketches, which are shown below. If you enjoy quizzes, you can try to identify the three species,
Identifying scoters by shape Read More »
For most observers the identification of these two species is simple, and is based entirely on location, with Vaux’s in the west and Chimney in the east. It is extremely rare to see the two species together, which means that few observers ever have the chance to study them in direct comparison, and therefore few
Identifying Chimney and Vaux’s Swifts by wing shape Read More »
If you’ve followed any of the discussions about identifying Red Crossbill call types, you may have given up on taking an active role in crossbill study, thinking that it would require thousands of dollars worth of recording equipment and computer software. Well, that is simply wrong. Most people can enter the field and start identifying crossbills
You too can record and identify Crossbill call types Read More »
On October 9th, 2005 I was enjoying the view at First Encounter Beach in Eastham, Massachusetts and watching a small flight of seabirds. A flock of gulls began to gather on the beach close to my car and I found myself more and more engrossed in the plumage variation of Ring-billed Gulls. This first photo
Variation in immature Ring-billed Gulls Read More »
Since The Sibley Guide to Birds was published in 2000 I’ve received several comments and questions about the fact that I illustrated the displaying male Ruffed Grouse with a broken tail band (not a solid dark band continuing across the two central tail feathers). Readers note that males are supposed to have complete dark tail bands, while
Variation in Ruffed Grouse tail patterns Read More »