Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
tiontotheshapesandrelative sizesofthebirds,colorpatterns,andnotesaboutbehaviors
and habitat.
You may notice that many swimming birds that seem to be shaped like ducks aren't
grouped with the ducks, geese, and swans. Grebes, loons, coots, pelicans, cormorants,
andeventinyshorebirdscalledphalaropesallswiminaducklikemanner.Butdespitethe
superficial similarities that all these birds share, they represent several different genetic
lines so are found in different sections of most field guides.
Although color patterns are important, being able to place birds in families is even
more critical. Many birds have all-white plumage except for black wingtips, including
AmericanWhitePelicans,SnowGeese,WhoopingCranes,WhiteIbises,andgulls;ifyou
seeoneofthese,itscolorpatternwon'tbeveryusefuluntilyougettothepagesthatshow
its family. And in poor light, you may not get a good sense of color at all. So shape and
posture are usually the first features to pay attention to.
Asyouflipthroughyourfieldguideandcomeacrossaninterestingspecies,don'tread
just the species account — go back and read that bird's family profile as well, and no-
tice how it compares and contrasts with its close relatives. By doing this frequently, your
guide will soon become a familiar friend, and you'll be able to recognize bird families,
which is an important step toward mastering bird identification. The more you do this at
home, the quicker you'll be at identifying birds in the field.
Q Why don't they organize field guides by color? That would make things so much
easier!
A
If field guides were organized by color, it would certainly make it easy to find birds
thatareonlyonecolor,suchasswansorcardinalsorcrows!Butwherewouldtheauthors
placeabluebird?Manytimes,ofcourse,weseethebrilliantblueback,butfromthefront,
a perched Eastern or Western bluebird appears far more red than blue. Is a Great Black-
backed Gull black or white? Would a Red-winged Blackbird go in the black section or
in the red section? Is a Painted Bunting red, blue, or green? If we were to choose all the
conspicuouscolorsforeachbirdandshowthemineachoftherelevantcolorsections,the
topic would be too heavy to call a field guide!
Q While cleaning my grandfather's attic, I found several of his notebooks, filled with
bird lists and details about where and when he saw the birds. Some of the records
went back to the 1940s! Would this information be useful to anybody?
A
Absolutely. Ornithologists are keenly interested in long-term data about birds, espe-
cially if it includes information about the number of birds seen. However, the data can be
usefulonlyifthey'reinaformatthatresearcherscanaccessandthenanalyzetheinforma-
tion. I hope you'll consider entering your grandfather's data into eBird at
www.ebird.org.
