10 Tips for Watching and Identifying Birds

See the end for a FREE offer from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, just for members of Tampa Audubon!!
  1. Use all the information you can get, including shape, size, color, pattern, behavior, habitat, range, and sounds.
  2. Try to see more than one characteristic; always try for at least two or more.
  3. See the whole bird; pay attention to everything from bill to tail. Sketching birds can help.
  4. If you know the common birds really well, the rare birds will stand out.
  5. Expect variation in every species.
  6. Learn how birds and feathers move so you know how a single bird can change its appearance.
  7. Size is only relative; compare a bird with something, even with itself.
  8. Watch birds with other people and learn from those with more experience.
  9. The magic of master birders is familiarity; the more time you spend watching birds the better a birder you will become.
  10. Everyone makes mistakes in bird identification. Everyone. Learn from yours.
Tips courtesy of Bird Academy, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, from its Be a Better Birder: Size and Shape course.

Cornell is offering this course for FREE to Tampa Audubon Society members! Use the coupon code Tampa100 and click here. ($29.99 value - FREE!)

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