Bird Watching Refresher Course

Pete Dunne on Bird Watching

Made me realize I need a new category of books for my retirement list. I already have a category called "Books I want to buy before retirement"--it contains "Wildflowers of Texas" and Birds of Texas (Keith A. Arnold.) I might also place "Identify Yourself" on there, and if I can find a decent guide to butterflies, moths and dragonflies I might add that.

Pete Dunne on Bird Watching--which is excellent, by the way--goes on a list called "Books I want to checkout and re-read frequently." I don't feel the need to own it, but I want a frequent refresher course of his advice, such as:

When you see a bird you cannot identify, study it. When you see a bird that you can identify, study it even more closely. The best way to recognize an uncommon species is to be intimate with those you see commonly.

[he goes on...]
Plump and long-billed and feeding like a sewing machine? Dowitcher. Not so plump and not so long-billed but longer-legged? Yellowlegs.
[...]
All those small sandpipers, those peep All those different plumages. All those molting birds. It was a veritable avian chimera!

I'm myself at the chimera stage right now, but with careful study and many hours in the field, Mr. Dunne gradually learned to tell them apart. Most of the time, of course. One thing I'm learning from the experts is that it's okay, sometimes, to admit you don't know. That doesn't mean you give up, though--it just means you're open to the possibility that you might be wrong sometimes.

One big mistake I tend to make is to assume a flock of Canada Geese is simply a flock of Canada Geese. But contrary to the rhyme "birds of a feather flock together", that ain't necessarily so.

The first thing to do when coming on a flock of gulls (or shorebirds...or waterfowl...or blackbirds...) is to identify the familiar birds that constitute the bulk of the flock. Next, look at any individuals that do not fit the norm. For instance, you may see a bird that stands slightly taller or is noticeably stockier or whose color differs by a shade.
Those differences don't necessarily require concerted study. They naturally draw you eyes. So relax. Let your eye be drawn to them. The study comes later.

Another thing that can made a bird stand out is position--it might stay at the edge; other birds might avoid it. I recently observed a flock of doves sitting on power lines...but one of them, off to the right and not exactly fitting into the masses, had a square tail, a bigger head, a streamlined body. And when they flushed, it became clear he was not a dove at all. Merlin!