Recognising Your Bird - Part 5

In this series so far you have seen four different characteristics of birds by which you can identify your bird.

Remember you do not need to identify every single point of distinction and struggle to memorise them.  You only need to identify one or two unique and easily observable points to help you identify your favourite friends.  I have been showing you many different ways, because  some features will be more easily distinguishable in one type of bird, while another set of features will be more distinct for some other species.  You can pick choose which features help you with identifying your birds best.

Today we will look at the most distinguishing feature of any creature - their face - in particular their eyes and beaks.  Birds are no different from humans in this regard.  Their eyes and beaks are just as uniquely expressive of each bird as our eyes and mouths are of us humans.

This method does the need the birds to be friendly and trusting enough so that they come reasonably close for detailed observation.  Usually one can observe these features from a comfortable 6-8 feet.  Photographs, particularly close-ups can be very helpful.  A pair of binoculars are handy if the birds don;t come close enough.  Feel free to make notes in your bird journal, these can be very handy especially over time when there are many birds of the same species.

All birds have distinct beaks and eyes.  If a bird comes close enough to you, you will see that the shape and colour above the beak and near the nostrils, the way the two parts of the beak meet, the shape of the full beak itself and the angles formed on the cheeks are clearly different.  The shape of their eyes and eyebrow ridge are similarly unique and the look of each bird is as individual as a human. Take a look at the pictures of the twins Philly and Sophie bellow:

	Philly has a thinner neck than her twin Sophie (below).  She also has patches of white on her thighs.
	Sophie's beak has a long line just above the centre, while Philly only has a short line (this can be different on each side of the face).  Philly's beak forms a circular pattern at the top where it meets the head, while Sophie's is more angular.

 Consider the noisy-miner siblings in the pictures below:

	The markings on the beaks, the shape of the eye mask, the size and shape of the eyes, the width of the forehead, patterns of the collar and goatie all contribute the distinctive look of each bird.
	In reality, even the claws are different, but these are much harder to spot unless characterised by some unusual deformity.

 Tomorrow we will look at one of the most interesting ways of knowing your bird.

For the earlier posts in this series on recognising individual birds click on the links below:

Tomorrow we will look at another easy method of recognising your bird.

For Part 1 of How To Recognise Individual Birds click here,

for Part 2 on Recognising Individual Birds click here,

for Part 3 on Recognising Your Bird click here,

for Part 4 on Identifying your bird click here.

If you would like to know more about  23 Amazing Facts About Wild Bird Culture with true stories - click on this link and enter your details.

To read the earlier articles in this blog challenge click here.

Until tomorrow,

Cheers

Gitie

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