Bird Identification Key — Size, Bill, Habitat, Behaviour

Identify a bird

Answer what you are sure of and leave the rest. Every question is optional, and the list narrows as you go.

1.How big was it?

optional

Judged 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?

optional

The 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?

optional

Habitat narrows the list quickly, and it is something you know for certain rather than something you have to judge.

4.What was it doing?

optional

Pick 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?

optional

Asked 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.

37 matches

Answer any question to begin