Simple Ways to I.D. BIRDS

By Jim Wright

Special to The Record | USA TODAY NETWORK - NEW JERSEY

   Welcome to prime time for bird-watching in North Jersey. Let’s say you have a new camera or telephoto lens to photograph all those gorgeous birds in breeding plumage. There’s just that one problem… How do you identify the birds you photographed.

  The good news is that life is far easier than the old days, when all you could rely on was a distant grainy shot or – even worse – a description based on what you think you saw.

  “I think it was a little larger than a cardinal but I didn’t really see if it had wing bars or a long tail,” you’d say, and then you’d stand there until your birding-whiz buddy finished rolling her eyes. 

    Or you’d dig out your Sibley’s guide or one of your other favorites and flip through it until you hoped to find a likely suspect. No more.

   First step: If you haven’t downloaded the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s free Merlin app for your smartphone, tablet and/or laptop, do it now. When you open the app, click “Identify a bird.” Then click  ”Photo” and upload your image. The app will soon tell you what you most likely saw.

  It’s  that simple. I’ve found its batting average is impressive, even with such timeless questions as “Is it a Cooper’s hawk or a sharp-shin?”

   (Merlin doesn’t really promote another little identification feature, but it’s pretty good, too: Show it a photo of a feather you found, and it can sometimes help you ID it as well, although it did understandably waffle when I entered a hawk feather and it replied that it was from a Cooper’s hawk or a sharp-shin.)

  Plan B is to post the photo of your mystery bird to a Facebook page and ask for help. I’ve found birders to be most generous in their expertise, and they enjoy a challenge.

In these parts, I’d join the "Bergen County Birds and Birding" Facebook group and post the photo there. Or try the “What’s this bird?” or  “Bird Identification Group - People Helping Others ID Birds” Facebook group.

     Another option is to send the photo to a birding buddy and ask him or her what they think.

    I’m told you can also try Siri, or post the pix with the #birds tag on Bluesky, which has a growing, active birding and bird photography community.

    A bit of free advice: When you see a bird worth photographing, shoot first (with your camera) and then look through your binoculars. 

   A second bit of free advice: If you’re on a walk and see a cool bird, but you don’t have your camera….If your camera is within a 10-minute walk, get it. I have found that at least half the time the bird will still be there. 

   One other note: If you have any high-quality digital closeups of birds you cannot identify, send them to me at the email address below and perhaps I’ll use some in an upcoming column.

   The Bird Watcher column appears every other Thursday.  Email Jim at [email protected].