Free · No sign-up · 37 species
What bird is this? Start with the bill, not the colour.
Almost everyone starts with colour, and colour is the least reliable thing about a bird — it changes with season, age and sex, it reads differently in shade, and a goldfinch in January looks like a different species. Bill shape follows diet and does not change, which is why it eliminates more of the list in one question than colour does in three.
Bird ID: Identify Birds — Free★ 4.1 · 9 ratings · iPhone & iPad
- Size and bill shape first
- Colour never removes a match
- Nothing you enter leaves your browser
1.How big was it?
optionalJudged against birds you already know, because nobody looks at a bird and thinks in centimetres. If it was between two of these, skip the question.
2.What shape was the bill?
optionalThe most eliminating question here, because bill shape follows diet rather than appearance. A thick cone means it eats seed; a fine point means it eats insects.
3.Where were you?
optionalHabitat narrows the list quickly, and it is something you know for certain rather than something you have to judge.
4.What was it doing?
optionalPick anything you saw. Behaviour separates species that look alike at rest — a nuthatch walks down a trunk head-first and nothing else does.
5.What colour stood out?
optionalAsked last, and it never removes anything from the list. Colour changes with season, age, sex and light, so a bird that matches everything else but not the colour still appears — below the exact matches.
- American Crowcrow
- American Goldfinchwild canary
- American Robinrobin
- Bald Eagleeagle
- Baltimore Orioleoriole
- Barn Swallowswallow
- Black-capped Chickadeechickadee
- Blue Jayjay
- Brown-headed Cowbirdcowbird
- Canada GooseCanadian goose
- Carolina Wrenwren
- Cedar Waxwingwaxwing
- Common Gracklegrackle
- Common Ravenraven
- Cooper's Hawkchicken hawk
- Dark-eyed Juncosnowbird
- Downy Woodpeckerdowny
- Eastern Bluebirdbluebird
- Eastern Phoebephoebe
- European Starlingstarling
- Great Blue Heronblue heron
- House Finchred finch
- House SparrowEnglish sparrow
- Killdeerkilldeer plover
- Mallardwild duck
- Mourning Dovedove
- Northern Cardinalredbird
- Northern Flickerflicker
- Red-bellied Woodpeckerzebra woodpecker
- Red-tailed Hawkchicken hawk
- Red-winged Blackbirdredwing
- Ruby-throated Hummingbirdhummingbird
- Song Sparrowsparrow
- Spotted Sandpiperteeter-peep
- Tufted Titmousetitmouse
- Turkey Vulturebuzzard
- White-breasted Nuthatchnuthatch
The pairs people mix up
Similar birds, and the one character that settles each.
All species
The birds most commonly seen across North America.
Questions people ask
What is the small brown bird at my feeder?
In most of North America it is a house sparrow, a house finch or a song sparrow. Look at the breast: a house sparrow female is plain and unstreaked, a house finch female is blurrily streaked, and a song sparrow is heavily streaked with a dark spot in the centre of the chest.
Why did my goldfinches disappear in winter?
They did not. American goldfinches moult out of the bright yellow into a drab olive-buff and keep visiting the feeder unrecognised. The black wings with white bars stay the same all year, and they are what to look for.
How do I tell a crow from a raven?
The tail in flight. A crow's is fanned and squared off; a raven's comes to a wedge or a diamond. A raven also soars on flat wings while a crow almost always flaps, and a raven croaks rather than caws.
What bird sounds like an owl but is not one?
A mourning dove. The low, mournful, repeated cooing is reported as an owl more often than any actual owl call, and it is usually heard in daylight, which owls rarely oblige with.
Does the key work without knowing the colour?
Yes, and it works better. Colour is asked last and never removes anything from the results, because it changes with season, age, sex and light. Size and bill shape between them eliminate far more of the list.
What does the app do that this site does not?
It identifies from a photograph and from recorded song, which is what you want in the field with the bird in front of you. This key is better when you are working from what you remember seeing.