Posted by Jim DeWitt on December 3, 2012 at 3:35 PM
Despite how this message may sound, I actually enjoy helping ID birds in photos. But for those who post birds asking for identification, here are some tips that will help you get accurate, timely answers. Or at least better informed guesses.
• Tell us where you took the photo. County and state, or province, and country, and what kind of habitat. Birds have ranges, and telling us where narrows the candidates a lot. Birds have preferred habitats, which also narrows the candidates.
• Tell us when you took the photo. Date and time. Different species are in different places at different times.
• Tell us what the bird was doing. Hawking bugs? Eating seeds? Singing? As just one example, if the bird is a flycatcher and was wagging its tail up and down a lot, that helps immensely with the difficult Empidonax species.
• Post alternate views of the bird if you have them. The field marks – the distinguishing characteristics that help birders ID a bird – can be difficult to impossible to get in a single photo. Photos showing the front and the back are very helpful.
And understand bird identification is sometimes chancy. I've watched Peter Pyle, the guy who wrote the book on identification of birds, struggle with the ID of a bird he was holding in his hand.
But if you can pass along the four bullet points, you'll increase the odds of getting an accurate answer.
Thanks.
Posted by Richard Ditch on December 3, 2012 at 4:44 PM
Ditto what Jim wrote.
Posted by Peter May on December 4, 2012 at 8:08 AM
Good points, Jim. Now if the ID seekers will just pay attention...
Discussion
4 replies• Tell us where you took the photo. County and state, or province, and country, and what kind of habitat. Birds have ranges, and telling us where narrows the candidates a lot. Birds have preferred habitats, which also narrows the candidates.
• Tell us when you took the photo. Date and time. Different species are in different places at different times.
• Tell us what the bird was doing. Hawking bugs? Eating seeds? Singing? As just one example, if the bird is a flycatcher and was wagging its tail up and down a lot, that helps immensely with the difficult Empidonax species.
• Post alternate views of the bird if you have them. The field marks – the distinguishing characteristics that help birders ID a bird – can be difficult to impossible to get in a single photo. Photos showing the front and the back are very helpful.
And understand bird identification is sometimes chancy. I've watched Peter Pyle, the guy who wrote the book on identification of birds, struggle with the ID of a bird he was holding in his hand.
But if you can pass along the four bullet points, you'll increase the odds of getting an accurate answer.
Thanks.