Identifying Birds
Birdwatching Fundamentals
Course 1 · Chapter 4 · Identifying Birds: A Method
Birdwatching Fundamentals 3 gave you the vocabulary for a bird's parts. This chapter turns that vocabulary into a method: a sequence of questions that narrows an unknown bird down to a group and then to a species. It also covers the birders' word "jizz", the idea of field marks, and how Roger Tory Peterson's guide changed the way identification was taught.
Start With the Overall Impression
Wikipedia's article on jizz (also spelled "giss") defines it as "the overall impression or appearance of a bird". It says the impression combines shape, posture, flight style, size and coloration with voice, habitat and location. The article says experienced birders often identify birds at a glance this way, and that it is especially useful for placing a bird in a family or genus. Its example sentence is "It definitely had the jizz of a thrush, but I couldn't see what kind."
A Five-Step Method
The steps below are my own summary of common practice, not taken from one article (check against a field guide's introduction).
| Step | Ask yourself | Narrows to |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Impression | What does it remind me of (thrush-like, duck-like)? | A family or group |
| 2. Size and shape | Compare it with a bird you know well; note bill, tail and leg proportions | A handful of candidates |
| 3. Field marks | Eyestripe, wing bars, rump colour, bill colour | Separates look-alikes |
| 4. Behaviour and habitat | How does it move and feed, and where is it? | Removes unlikely options |
| 5. Sound | What song or call do I hear? | Confirms, or separates cryptic species |
Field Marks and the Peterson System
Wikipedia's article on Roger Tory Peterson says he "developed the Peterson Identification System" and is "known for the clarity of both his illustrations of field guides and his delineation of relevant field marks". It says he published the first edition of his guide in 1934, that the book is "considered by some to be the first modern field guide", and that the initial run of 2,000 copies sold out within a week. It names a diagram of ducks by Ernest Thompson Seton in Two Little Savages (1903) as one inspiration.
Birdwatching Fundamentals 2 reported, from the Field guide article, that the guide placed paintings of similar species side by side with arrows marking the differences. The Peterson article itself does not explain how the system works, so that description rests on the other article.
| Fact | Source article |
|---|---|
| 1934 first edition; initial run of 2,000 copies sold out within a week | Roger Tory Peterson |
| Born 28 August 1908; died 28 July 1996, aged 87 | Roger Tory Peterson |
| Similar species side by side, with arrows marking differences | Field guide |
Checking the age: from 28 August 1908 to 28 July 1996 is one month short of 88 years, so 87 is right. He was 25 or 26 when the guide appeared in 1934 (1934 minus 1908 is 26, or 25 before his August birthday); the first edition's month is not given in the page I read (check).
Behaviour, Habitat and Sound
Wikipedia's article on bird vocalisation identification says the specificity of bird calls "has been used extensively for species identification". Vocal differences can help separate similar species, and some subspecies differences are "detectable only in the sonograms". It also says that songs are associated with territory and courtship, that calls often serve as alarms or to keep flock members in contact, and that song "is usually delivered from prominent perches". The article reports that some field guides have used sonograms since 1983 and that smartphone apps now match recordings against spectrographic databases. Chapter 5 covers sound in detail.
Not Yet Verified, and Sources
- Sources. Jizz and Roger Tory Peterson were read as summaries by the fetch tool. The bird vocalisation page: first 100,000 of about 223,000 characters. The page I looked for on general identification methods (size, shape, colour) did not cover those topics, so steps 1 to 4 are my own general knowledge (check).
- Not in the articles. The five-step method, the write-first advice and the "do not force it" advice.
- Left open. The month of the 1934 first edition, and Peterson's publisher for it, are not given in the page I read.
Exercises
Using the dates in this chapter, work out (a) Peterson's age in 1934 if his birthday had already passed that year, and if it had not; (b) the number of years between the 1903 Seton diagram and the 1934 guide; (c) the number of years between Coward's 1922 book and the Greenwoods' 2018 article.
Explain in your own words what "jizz" means and why it is useful at a glance, then explain why the wartime-acronym explanation of the word cannot be right.
Pick a bird you can see from a window or in a photograph. Work through the five steps in the method table and write one line for each step. Then say which step gave you the most information and which gave you the least.
Quick Reference
- Jizz: the overall impression of a bird; in print by 1922
- Method: impression, size and shape, field marks, behaviour and habitat, sound
- Peterson guide: first edition 1934; first run of 2,000 copies sold out within a week
- Sound: calls and songs help separate similar species
- Check: the five-step method, the birth-month arithmetic for 1934