A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Hobbies, Crafts and Creativity The Bird Lovers Forum Bird ID

Many of you have lots of questions about the birds you see, wondering what they are. This is not as difficult as you might think. The key is good reference materials, especially Field Guides. The BEST available for North America and Canada, currently, is the Sibley Guide to Birds of North America. They have an Eastern edition, a Western edition, and one that covers ALL of North America and Canada. THIS is the guide that "I" use. There are many online guides that are very good. Two of the best are eNature.com and whatbird.com. These not only have a database that actually HELPS you narrow down your choice, they also have actual recordings of the songs and calls of each species. I do more location and identification of birds by sound, than I do by sight. I believe that ID'ing birds by sound is just as important, and maybe even MORE so in some cases, than by sight. If you hear but don't see a bird, birders still include it on their daily lists.

Thanks Thorny. It's nice of you to share your resources with us. I appreciate it.

Can you tell me the difference between a crow and a raven? I had a mother and adolecent in my back yard yesterday and if they weren't fun to watch. The teenager was busy picking up every clot and tasting it while the mother was much more choosy. But the minute she would eye something, junior would be right there to check it out too.

Ravens tend to be MUCH larger than crows and not nearly as sleek. I've never seen a raven in person myself. I understand they look like a crow on sterods, having a bad hair day.

ok, so i saw a raven the other day. i remember thinking "that's the biggest crow/black bird i've ever seen"

if it wasn't a raven it WAS a crow on steroids

hark the raven...nevermore.

These were crows then. they were very well groomed. And just as funny as you could ask for. I really enjoyed watching them.

I used the whatbird.com and found out that the huge birds I saw awhile back were Golden Eagles. I never would have guessed. How cool is that?