Backyard Birding

This little fellow was a bit of a challenge for me and in attempting to identify her, I did something I have never done before. But more on that below.

Remember, when you come across an unfamiliar bird, do not reach for your field guide first. The bird is unlikely to sit still for the comparison process, and you will likely forget what the bird really looked like before you find it. Instead, sketch or make mental notes of key identification features and get a picture if possible. These are some of the most important things to makenote of:

Coloration

The tail coverts are dark, almost slate colored. Underneath is white. In fact, when I first looked at this bird, all I really saw was her tail and my first thought was, “The juncos are back?” My second thought, as i moved to a better window was, “What on earth is a junco doing on the platform feeder?” I have never even seen them even as high as the ground feeder unless the snow is deep. But the view from the side made it clear that she was not a junco. The wing coverts were dark as well, with white feathers underneath. (The coverts are the feathers which cover the quills.)

Breast

I really could only see her from this profile, but her breast is white with notable streaking. The streaks are dark and form solid lines. This was new for me, because it reminded me more of the female rose-breasted grosbeak we had earlier in the year. This bird was no where near that size, but the house finches I have seen so far do not have such clearly defined lines on their breasts.

Size

She is about the size of a goldfinch. At least that was my first impression. I had no other birds to compare her with, but she seemed on the small side.

Beak

Large and conical. The upper mandible is darker than the lower mandible. The ratio between the beak size and head size seemed more like that of a grosbeak. But all the grosbeaks I know of are closer to a cardinal in size rather than a goldfinch.

Behavior

Not particularly shy. I moved around the window a bit, and she was undisturbed. I opened the back door, and she did not fly off until I actually went out the door (which is about 20 feet from the feeding station). She was picking sunflower seeds out of a mixture of millet, cracked corn and sunflower seed.

Head

Dark and solid in color. No noticeable eye markings, but these may have been masked by the apparent eye disease.

Eye
At first, I thought the eye was missing, but closer examination shows a possible infection. House finches are somewhat susceptible to conjucntivitis, and this appears to be the problem here.

Because of the darker coloration and especially because of the beak size, I was not completely sure what kind of bird it was. So I took another step in the identification process. After comparing the photo to the bird guide and several pictures on the Internet, I consulted with more experienced birders. There may generally be found at a wildlife store or your local nature center. I posted mine at birdforum, asking what it was.

There, the consesnsus was that it is indeed a house finch, probably with conjunctivitis. The beak is a little large for the species, but there can be considerable variation among individuals in any species.

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Deb from Let a Woman Learn sent me this photograph of a bird her family found on their porch, wondering what it was:

She mentioned that she thought it was a robin at first, but the markings led her to believe it was maybe a thrush or a thrasher.

When you have a dead bird, the general rule to take notes before reaching for the bird guide is not relevant. You have plenty of time to refer to multiple entries and even search online for the bird that best matches the one you have found. Remember that there can be quite a bit of variation between individuals within a species and when you throw seasonal plumage and differing life stages, even the best bird guides may leave you without a certain identification. For the practice, here is the process I go through when identifying a bird: (more…)

This afternoon, I nursed the baby under a tree while my other children searched over the sunflowers growing under the feeders for insects. The birds would not come to the feeders with so much activity, but they gathered in the trees, waiting for us to leave. I love these times. Although we do not get to see the birds very well, the yard is filled with their song. Whether it is the harsh “twack” of the red-headed woodpecker, the soft gurgle of the brown-headed cowbird or the melodious whistle of the cardinal, each brings its own special instrument to the symphony of our backyard.

I am just beginning to learn the songs of the less shy of our feeder birds, but hope to learn more. One of the resources we found at our local library was Birding by Ear, a CD with a collection of bird songs to help you learn to identify birds by their song. My children love going to sleep with it playing in the background, but I am yet to use it to systematically learn the calls of our local birds.

If you are interested in learning to identify birds by their songs, I would recommend checking out the CDs available at your library, and paying close attention to your feeders. The calls which have stuck with me are those I heard while the birds were flying to the feeders. For me, this moment is a little more exciting and personal, so the sounds stay with me more than when I’m trying to memorize the sounds on a recording. We are planning on installing a microphone near our viewing window, which may help us, as well. The Virtual Birder also has a lot of excellent suggestions we may try. Birds are frequently heard more often than seen, and I would love to know who else is hanging out in our trees besides just those who waiting for a chance to come to the feeders.

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(I am in no way affiliated with BirdWatcher’s Nature Shop and have never done business with them. The link is only provided to give you more information if you are interested in the CD I mentioned).

Nothing is quite so exciting in bird feeding as discovering a new visitor, especially if you are not sure what kind of bird it is. Today, we were lucky enough to attract this beautie:

As discussed in my first practice, I resisted the urge to immediately run for the bird guide, and began to take mental notes on what I saw. The appearance of the bird did not give me very many clues in this case.

Size: About the size of a blue jay

Color: Black with distinctive white patch on rump with black stripes. The head is more brownish. White underside with light streaking.

Beak: Seems large for the bird, like a jay or woodpecker. All black.

Behavior: The bird flew in and landed on the large branch outside the window. It seemed tame and curious. When my daughter ran in asking what kind of bird I saw, the other birds at the feeder flew off but this one stayed. It hopped up the branch like a woodpecker, watching the feeders closely. A red-headed woodpecker arrived shortly afterwards. The two birds left together.

The bird was actually there long enough for my daughter to get the bird guide and we went through each picture. It sat there as we compared each picture to it. This is rare and why it is so important to at least take good mental notes before looking at the pictures. There were some similarities to both the three-toed woodpecker and the black backed woodpecker, but that would have been an extremely rare find. We are way outside of their normal range, but there were also distinguishing features lacking. I guessed that what we were seeing was a juvenile that had not yet received its adult plumage. Since it came with a red-headed woodpecker, my first guess was that it was one of those.

I never would have thought it would be so difficult to find a picture of a juvenile red-headed woodpecker! I finally stumbled across some, however, and confirmed that Jr. had indeed come for a visit. It is exciting to confirm my first guess, and even more exciting to see the offspring of one of our favorite “regulars.”

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When you begin attracting birds to your back yard, you will likely notice a plethora of “little brown birds.” At first, they all seem to look alike until you become more familiar with bird identification and what to look for while watching your birds. The hardest thing to remember is not to reach for your field guide first. Study the bird, take some notes and then reach for your field guide. For some practice, I have here one of our “little brown birds” which only recently discovered our feeders.

I am no expert at identifying birds, but here is roughly what I look for when “sketching” a bird in my mind or in my notebook before looking it up.

Size
Try to compare the size of the birds to others with which you are familiar. This will help if you stumble across species such as the downy and hairy woodpeckers who are easiest to differentiate by size. Difficult to tell here, but this bird is larger than a sparrow, smaller than a cardinal.

Color
Look at the overall color and distinctive markings and patterns. Look specifically at the wings to note any bars, the head for any striping, the breast for spots and streaks and the tail for any distinctive markings. On this bird, the back is brown but lightly streaked with white. The breast is white and streaked with brown. There is a noticeable white stripe above the eye which runs to the back of the head. There is some white on the wings. The eyes and legs are also black.

Beak

Large and conical. Light in color. The beak looks like that of a grosbeak.

Behavior

It is surprising how much you can tell from observing how a bird feeds and what birds it seems to associate with. Many species have distinctive preferences for specific types of food and will feed primarily on the ground or at a particular kind of feeder. This bird was alert, but not overly timid. Remained at the feeder when a group of sparrows flew off. It arrived alone and left alone. It only ate from the hopper feeder which contains black oil sunflower seeds.

For this bird, the beak is the most distinctive feature. Looking through a field guide, I find a few species which look similar but differ on important aspects. The song sparrow looks a little like this bird, but is a bit smaller. The female rose-breasted grosbeak and the female black-headed grosbeak both look very similar to this bird. My first guess would be that this is a female rose-breasted grosbeak for the simple fact that we have several males which come so I know this species is in the area.

According to the field guide, we happen to be right outside the border of the black-headed grosbeak’s range so it would not be unheard of in the area, but it would not be as likely as the rose breasted grosbeak.

Looking more closely at the beak, I notice another clue. The picture I have of the female black-headed grosbeak shows a beak that is dark on top. This bird’s entire beak is the same color.

So I conclude that this is, indeed, a female rose-breasted grosbeak.

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