Learning to idenfity birds at your feeder takes some practice.
Generally, the birds found in backyards are songbirds or doves. These birds eat seeds and are attracted to birdfeeders and birdbaths in your yard. If you hang suet, you will attract woodpeckers, while hummingbirds come into yards which display bright flowers or sugar water feeders. Learning to identify birds by species requires a comprehensive guidebook featuring the birds of your region. Concentrating on five traits will help you correctly identify the bird in question.
Shape and Size
Notice the size and shape of the bird in question. Doves tend to grow larger than songbirds. Vireos and warblers grow smaller than mockingbirds and grackles. Recognizing the difference between an American crow and a fish crow amounts to knowing that American crows are larger. Most people can identify a hummingbird on sight, based solely on its size and shape.
Color and Marking
Birds of the same species may have different coloring to identify males and females. Look for distinctive markings such as masked eyes, bars on the tail feathers, "crests" on the chest, or bars on the wings. In certain instances, color and marking alone renders a bird instantly recognizable, such as the blue of a blue jay or the red of a male northern cardinal.
Beaks
Hummingbirds have long, narrow beaks made to extract nectar, while mourning doves have sturdy, pointed beaks for foraging for seed and picking berries. Most songbirds have beaks designed to crush insects. A woodpecker's beak penetrates wood to get at bugs inside.
Feet and Legs
Most species of songbird have four toes, with three toes pointing forward and one toe pointing back (anisodactyl), but woodpeckers, mousebirds and some swifts have two toes pointing forward and two toes pointing back (zygodactyl). Many swifts have all four toes pointing forward (pamprodactyl). The colors of legs and feet can also give a birdwatcher clues as to the bird's identity.
Behavior
According to the National Bird-Feeding Society, certain birds such as grosbeaks, cardinals and finches will sit and eat at a birdfeeder, while nuthatches, titmice and chickadees simply grab the food and fly away. Some songbirds perch in trees with their tail pointed downwards, others with their tail pointed up. Did the bird arrive in your yard with a flock, or is it aggressive toward other birds? A bird's personality helps to indicate its species.
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