Part of being a bird lover is learning how to properly identify birds and luckily for amateurs, they can easily learn this by observing the birds that visit their yards to use their bird feeders and bird baths. With that said it is beneficial to have these two things around if you wish to attract birds and at the same time, learn more about how to identify them. There 2 ways when it comes to identifying birds. The first of which is through sight and the other is through sound. Yes, you can learn how to identify birds through the sounds that they make. Remember Cameron Diaz in the Charlie’s Angels movie? Well, she was able to identify a particular bird just listening to the kind of chirping sound it made. So, shall we get started with learning more about these two methods?

A field guide should be very helpful if you want to learn how to identify birds through the way they look. These are books that have pictures and ample descriptions of the various birds that might come and visit your yard. You might want to consider getting books that show birds common to your country as well as migratory birds that regularly visit places near where you live. Some books have very limited information so choose yours well. The first question that you have to ask when identifying birds by sight is “how big is the bird?” as this could easily narrow your search down. Afterwards, take a look at the bird’s plume. Check your book for similar colorings. The colorings help identify one bird from the other, although there are certain birds that have pretty similar looking plumes. If that is the case, check for other identifying features such as their beak, head, legs and tail.

Fact is, learning how to identify birds won’t be easy the first time that you give it a try. It can take a few months before you get used to the differences and the similarities because certain factors might affect how a particular bird looks. Depending on the hour of day, a brown bird can appear to be of a different color.

Now, let’s talk about identifying birds through sound. For this, you would need to tune your ear to a bird’s song. Yes, it would be more difficult than identification through sight but it is also useful if you intend to bird watch in bigger outdoor spaces. At home, you may practice through the different bird species that visit your yard. Check out your feeders and bath, are there any birds there? Listen to their bird song. Is it high? Low? Do they sing with a particular pattern? Write this information down and look up the bird that’s been making the sound. With time and practice, you’ll be able to do this easily.

So there you have it, just a few tips when it comes to learning how to identify birds. Regardless of which method you choose, remember that it would be beneficial to have feeders and baths in your backyard in order to attract these winged creatures which should allow you to practice your newly found skills. Good luck!

Aloha Kauai Rainforest Adventure – CLICK HERE!

Technorati Tags: bird feeders, bird identifcation, Bird Watching

Identifying birds whislt watching them is a great hobby, here are a few birds along with their characteristic identification marks, of course some novices may need bird books for beginning birders to help them on the way.

I grew up in a place surrounded by jungles and love learning to identifying birds.  My father was a mining engineer, and his job took him from his home state, West Bengal in the east, to the coal mines in the state of Andhra Pradesh, in southern India, to a tiny little place called Kothagudem. The coal mines were built by the British, so were the solid bungalows that we lived in.  I had to start with an international bird guide book  before venturing out.  These bungalows had sprawling gardens full of trees, bushes, flower beds, and lush creepers, which were of course full of the calls and songs of birds, from the ‘chirrup-chirrup’ of the house sparrow to the long drawn out ‘koo-oo koo-oo’ of the koel, or the Indian cuckoo – wild birds filled my life with their music, and sitting listening the identifying bird was part of life.

The garden was separated from the wilderness of the jungles beyond by just a flimsy fence, which I easily slipped through to wander along narrow paths and listen to and catch sight of more birds – like a brilliantly hued kingfisher suddenly swooping down to dip its beak in a puddle of water, or a golden oriole sunning itself on a branch, or a coucal, with its distinctive reddish-brown wings, clumsily waddling away into the underbrush, or listen to the ‘twit-twoo’ cries of the bulbul, and if very lucky, when the monsoon clouds would growl and darken the skies, suddenly spot a peacock with its beautiful tail feathers unfurled in full bluish-green shimmering splendor! Following along with a bird identification book.

This early introduction to birds lead me to read the ornithologist, Dr Salim Ali’s – better known as the ‘birdman of India’ – books like ‘The Book of Indian Birds’, ‘Pictorial Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent’, and his delightful autobiography, ‘The Fall of a Sparrow’ – which opened my eyes wider to the identification of the wild bird species that I have always lived with, and which has left a lasting thirst in me to learn all about the various wild birds all over the world.

Given below are a few wild birds along with their characteristic bird identification marks:

The Whooping Crane’s Identification: Named because of its whooping call, this crane is listed as an endangered bird and is the tallest bird in North America, as well as the only species of crane that occurs solely here. When fully grown, they are white in color. The neck is long, which is kept straight while flying, and they have dark, long legs that trail towards the back during flight. When they fly, the black tips of their wings can be spotted.

The Great Egret’s Identification: Weighing up to 950 g and standing 101 cm tall, this is a large sized bird indeed, and is also referred to as the Common Egret, White Heron, or Great White Egret. This wading egret occurs in most areas of the world where the climate is warmer temperate or tropical, such as the southern part of Europe as well as in Asia. In New Zealand, it is referred to as Kotuku. Its plumage is fully white, its bill is yellow in color, and its feet and legs are black. Its flight is slow, during which the neck remains retracted, distinguishing them from spoonbills, cranes, and storks, which keep their necks extended.

The Golden Eagle’s Identification: This bird of prey is one of the most familiar in the northern hemisphere. Once occurring all over Asia, Europe, and North America, nowadays it is no longer seen in areas that are heavily populated. The colors of its plumage range from dark brown to blackish brown, with the nape and crown a dramatic golden color, which accounts for its name. The wingspan of this bird can reach up to 7 feet, or 2 m, while the length of its body can measure up to 3 feet, or 1 m.

Pileated Woodpecker’s Identification: Almost the size of a crow, this is the largest sized woodpecker, and is found in most parts of North America. Its presence is announced in the forests that range all over the continent by the large, rectangular shaped excavations it makes in dead trees and <a href="http://blogcolony.com/access/

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” title=”birds feeder”>feeds in our yards, and its loud calls that ring through the trees. With a red crest on its head, it has white markings on its wings, at the linings of the under wings and the base of the primaries. It has white and black stripes on its face, along with a white stripe that extends from the base of the bill and down the neck. It also has a white stripe below the crown and above the eye, and a white throat. It has yellow eyes and yellowish feathers on the nostrils. Its call is ringing and loud, which goes ‘kuk-kuk-kuk’, along with resonating drumming sound.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak’s Identification: With bold patterns in rose, white, and black, the male can be identified quite easily. However, the female, which is striped and drab, is more difficult to do so, resembling a larger version of the finch or sparrow. Commonly occurring in forests, the song of the grosbeak resembles the robin’s, except that it is more melodic and softer. The belly of the male is white, the chest is red, and it has a black hood. The bill is cone-shaped, pale, thick, and large.

Northern Mockingbird’s Identification: It has been given this name because of the way it imitates other birds’ songs. They occur from the southern parts of Canada right down to the southern regions of Mexico, as well as the Caribbean. Its plumage is grayish-brown in color with two white colored bars that run parallel on the wings, along with a white, broad patch on the wings that are visible when the bird flies

Great Black-backed Gull’s Identification: This is the largest gull in the world. Its head is white, with the underparts being white and the upper parts being black. It bill is large and yellow, with the lower part having a red spot. The eyes are pale, with a red ring, and the feet and legs are pink. It flies with slow, deep beats of the wings and has the ability of soaring on updrafts or thermals. It occurs in the northeastern parts of North America and the northwestern parts of Europe. Its calls are deep, which sound like ‘gawp’ or ‘gowl’, or sometimes going ‘owk-owk-owk’ or ‘hah-hah-hah’. And when it breeds it makes low screeches that sound like ‘kreee-aaahh’.

Sarus Crane’s Identification: This is the only crane that lives and breeds in Southeast Asia and India, and is also the tallest flying bird in the world. Also, it is the largest bird of India. The plumage of the body is a light gray in color, and a greenish, smooth skin covers the crown. The upper neck, throat, and the rest of the head have reddish-orange skin that is rough. There are grayish-white feathers that are over its ears, and there are black, long hair-like bristles covering parts of the neck and upper throat. The toes and legs are red in color. The female is slightly smaller in size compared to males. Pairs of cranes, which form bonds that last life-long, perform courtship dances that are elaborate, with a combination of prances, bows, and leaps, accompanied with calling to each other in duet.

Also recommended are these Bird Identification Books for different areas of the world.

By Rita Putatunda Published: 2/9/2008

Visitors to Backyard Bird feeders
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Identifying Birds . Used the Indian Books of Birds to Identify the Small Bee-eater and River Tern .  

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Avian enthusiasts visiting the state of Haryana, India have a delightful destination to explore. The Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary is a favourite haunt of record numbers of endemic and migratory birds. Found in Farukh Nagar Road of the Gurgaon district, only 15 kilometers away from Gurgaon and 40 kilometers from Delhi’s Dhaula Kuan, this site is protected by the state government as a National Park.

The marshy lands of the reservation, fed liberally and flooding during the monsoon months, is ideal breeding ground for fish, insects and crustaceans which in turn becomes prey for the birds they attract. Although the area has always been locally famous for its congregations of exotic birds, it first came to official attention when bird enthusiast Mr. Peter Jackson petitioned the then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to make it into an officially sanctioned bird reserve. The area, which spans over 350 acres of marshland and field, was first declared a Bird Sanctuary and finally gained its rightful status as a National Park in 1991.

The park is today home to over 250 species of birds, over 100 of whom are migratory birds hailing from places as far-flung as the Himalayas, Siberia, Afghanistan and even Europe. Winter is the ideal time to visit as the grounds become a vista of flittering color as migratory birds arrive in great flocks to find new feeding grounds in warmer climes. Siberian cranes, teals, rosy pelicans and flamingos, Eurasian widgeons, starlings and sandpipers of many varieties are among these annual visitors, as are the musical Asian koels, the Eurasian golden orioles, cuckoos, comb ducks and bee-eaters. At least one and half hours is given as the requisite time to do a full tour of this bird sanctuary, whose wonders are not limited to the feathered friends. A number of rare animals also make the park their habitat, such as sambar and hog deer, blackbucks, wild cats and mongoose, hyenas, hedgehogs and porcupines, antelope and even leopards. 

The Department of Wild Life Preservation continues to make the area even more attractive to both eco-tourists and the wildlife through facilitating the proliferation of vegetation, with special emphasis on trees favoured by particular birds. Many tourist facilities have also been provided, such as four observatory towers for bird-watching, an education and information centre as well as a dedicated library complete with film clips and observation equipment. The Interpretation Centre, dedicated to famous ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali, features a spectacular montage of pictures depicting the bird denizens of the park, captioned by informative write-ups.

Tourists staying at nearby Gurgaon hotels enjoy the dual advantages of being close to the park, as well as having the commercial attractions of Delhi near at hand. The Leela Kempinski Gurgaon, Delhi (NCR) is one of the highly-regarded leisure and business hotels Delhi, providing comfortable, centralized accommodation and a host of business and recreational facilities.

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Part of being a bird lover is learning how to properly identify birds and luckily for amateurs, they can easily learn this by observing the birds that visit their yards to use their bird feeders and bird baths. With that said it is beneficial to have these two things around if you wish to attract birds and at the same time, learn more about how to identify them. There 2 ways when it comes to identifying birds. The first of which is through sight and the other is through sound. Yes, you can learn how to identify birds through the sounds that they make. Remember Cameron Diaz in the Charlie’s Angels movie? Well, she was able to identify a particular bird just listening to the kind of chirping sound it made. So, shall we get started with learning more about these two methods?

A field guide should be very helpful if you want to learn how to identify birds through the way they look. These are books that have pictures and ample descriptions of the various birds that might come and visit your yard. You might want to consider getting books that show birds common to your country as well as migratory birds that regularly visit places near where you live. Some books have very limited information so choose yours well. The first question that you have to ask when identifying birds by sight is “how big is the bird?” as this could easily narrow your search down. Afterwards, take a look at the bird’s plume. Check your book for similar colorings. The colorings help identify one bird from the other, although there are certain birds that have pretty similar looking plumes. If that is the case, check for other identifying features such as their beak, head, legs and tail.

Fact is, learning how to identify birds won’t be easy the first time that you give it a try. It can take a few months before you get used to the differences and the similarities because certain factors might affect how a particular bird looks. Depending on the hour of day, a brown bird can appear to be of a different color.

Now, let’s talk about identifying birds through sound. For this, you would need to tune your ear to a bird’s song. Yes, it would be more difficult than identification through sight but it is also useful if you intend to bird watch in bigger outdoor spaces. At home, you may practice through the different bird species that visit your yard. Check out your feeders and bath, are there any birds there? Listen to their bird song. Is it high? Low? Do they sing with a particular pattern? Write this information down and look up the bird that’s been making the sound. With time and practice, you’ll be able to do this easily.

So there you have it, just a few tips when it comes to learning how to identify birds. Regardless of which method you choose, remember that it would be beneficial to have feeders and baths in your backyard in order to attract these winged creatures which should allow you to practice your newly found skills. Good luck!

Aloha Kauai Rainforest Adventure – CLICK HERE!

Technorati Tags: birds, how, Identify, Learn, to