THIS is why we all hate sparrows

I suppose I can be labeled as a birdwatcher. Every time I go out onto the field, I am with my iPhone, which I keep my field guide, my life list and all my observational notes on. Due to the organization of the iPhone 4, I found it rather easy to switch from my field guide (The Sibley Guide to Birds of North America app; $29.99) to my observation notes, which is in my Notes app that came with the iPhone upon purchase.

This is my life saver. I could never go back to the book guide. Ever.

I know I’ve gone completely modern here, and that’s a bit terrifying to older birders and birdwatchers. I advise it because it’s easier, personally. I attempted the traditional way with the journal and the book; since I’m already such a clumsy person, it was just rather humorous to watch me attempt to flip through so many pages then write, then drop my pen, then drop my journal and then…

An image of observational notes I took while in the field. Not terribly in depth, but enough to compare to past notes.

Well, Actually...

 “Birdwatching”, of course, is the general term used for anyone participating in the act of watching birds, regardless what kind of watching a person is engaging in. If we want to get technical, that term is rather incorrect. A birdwatcher is someone who watches birds, yes. But this person is also engaging in what is known as an observational approach: usually a birdwatcher is seen with some form of journal or device to take notes and spends multiple minutes observing a specific bird’s behavior. The behavior, whether the bird is foraging, building a nest, socially interacting with others or being solitary, is the most important part of watching.

There is another term to describe a person usually only interested in what is known as a "life list" (the list of birds seen for an entire lifetime). This list become the pride and joy of a birder.  The birder is a person who does not usually carry a journal and relies solely on a field guide and past experiences or advice.

Older birders (ranging in the 50’s or above) tend to keep their life lists in their field guides, marking the birds they have seen by date and location. Usually, once the bird is seen, the birder does not care to record any more sightings of said bird.

For example, the first time a birder sees a Black-chinned Hummingbird, the birder will record the date, time and location of the sighting, and not record anything else for the Black-chinned Hummingbird for the life list even though there are large chances that the birder will see the Black-chinned Hummingbird again.

Sparrows Never Play Nice

One of the first things I noticed in my beginning years of birdwatching was that I had such a hard time identifying one species of bird from another. A good example of that very problem that every birder or birdwatcher has is learning to distinguish sparrow species. As such, everyone hates sparrows.

A funny fact about the field guide: it only points out the obvious if there’s a little arrow.

As you’ve probably seen, a lot of field guides are drawing based. I actually prefer these because to me it means that the naturalist that drew them has a keen eye for detail. Yes, Sibley and Peterson know exactly what they’re talking about. These guides have the little arrows pointing out less than obvious, or possibly obvious features of the bird.

For example, on the image for the Green Heron in the Sibley Guide, an arrow points to the neck stating, “streaked neck”. Sure it’s obvious in the book, but would you be able to catch that out on the field without it? Not only do these little arrows point out a feature of the bird, it teaches the beginner to keep a wide eye out for detail. The arrows are actually there for beginners. It screams, “HEY LOOK AT THIS ARROW NOW PRETEND THAT THERE ARE ARROWS ALL OVER THE BIRD YOU HAVE IN FRONT OF YOU.”

All sparrows have streaks. All of them. These streaks and spots and lines come in different colors and in different patterns. If you can pretend that there are arrows pointing to the bird you are looking at in the field, I promise that you’ll memorize the patterns faster. Think to yourself, “Okay. This sparrow’s streaks are really dark brown and they start at the neck and go down to the rump. And the wings are striped. And there is a yellow mark right above the nasal cavity.”

Do that first. Before ever opening the field guide. Get a good look. Thhheeennn open the book. Find your sparrow. If you kept a good eye in detail, you’d quickly discover that the sparrow you were looking at (if you knew it was a sparrow. We’ll talk about family distinctions later) is a Botteri’s Sparrow. In the book, the arrows, indeed, point to the dark stripes on the back of the bird.

If you can learn to recognize specific details first instead seeing a bird then automatically flipping through the book in a frenzy, memorizing patterns on a bird will help you in the battle of distinguishing them from members of the same family. To go back to the Botteri’s Sparrow example, another sparrow known as the Bachman’s Sparrow also has dark streaks on the back. The difference? These streaks are outlined in gray and black. This sparrow also has stripes on the wings and a yellow spot. 

It’s the very fine detail that will help. I’ve learned to even sketch the bird for a bit. If you have time to sketch it, you have plenty of time to fully look at the colors and patterns on it.

Note the fine difference (Bachman's on top). Could you catch that in the field?

-s.g martinez