By Tony Gazso, Interpretive Naturalist

“Look at that red cardinal!” “That goldfinch is so yellow!” These are just a couple of the things you may hear or say when looking out at your local birdfeeder. And sure, we all know that a cardinal is red, or a blue jay is blue, but color and plumage patterns aren’t the only ways to identify a bird. In fact, in some cases a bird’s plumage doesn’t really help at all. Today, I’ll give you a couple of things to look at that go beyond simply what color a bird is that will help you narrow down the identity of the feathered visitor in question.

First up, size. Birds are all different sizes. From the tiny hummingbird to the huge bald eagle. Size can be a good indicator of what you’re observing, and comparing size to that of a well-known bird is a good trick. There are four common birds we can use for comparison; sparrow, robin, crow and goose. We all have a good idea of how big each of those are. So when you see a bird you aren’t sure of, think “is it smaller than a sparrow?” or “It’s in between robin and crow.” These relative sizes will give you a great starting point. A good example would be a blue jay and an indigo bunting. Both are blue birds, but the blue jay is somewhere between robin and crow in size, while the bunting is about sparrow size, maybe a tad smaller.

Indigo bunting

Shape is another key feature to look at–specifically the shape of a bird's bill. This will tell you what kind of food a bird eats. A seed-eating bird like a finch will have a large conical bill, while a thrush will have a longer pointier bill for grabbing worms and insects. Herons have long spear-like bills for, well, spearing fish, and hawks have a very sharp, curved bill designed for tearing flesh. For example, the yellow warbler and American goldfinch are both mostly yellow, but the warbler has a small, pointy bill for insects, and the goldfinch has a large bill used for eating seeds.

One more thing to think about is habitat. Where is the bird you’re trying to identify? Some birds feed on the ground, some high up in trees. Some prefer grasslands, and others forests. Even if you don’t know off the top of your head which birds prefer which habitat, observing which habitat the bird in question is in will help you narrow down your identification. Take this example, the iridescent blue grackle will feed on the ground, while the iridescent blue purple martin would almost never be seen foraging on the ground! There are, of course, other things to look for (such as sound and habits), and we’ll touch on those in a future post. But for now, just remember, color isn’t everything when identifying birds!

Yellow warbler