DARE TO BIRD

As I run the BC Rare Bird Alert , I am always inundated with identification requests. I enjoy helping people as it keeps my ID skills sharp and it's rewarding to help ease people's confusion. Yet it is ideal if people can also help themselves by trying to identify the bird first right from the first moment they see it in the field. If I simply ID the bird for them over and over am I really helping or hindering them? I am always eager to help people but just providing the answer (even with explaining the reasons why I came to that conclusion) is not truly beneficial for those who really want to learn Bird ID, unless of course one is totally stumped after trying to resolve the matter themselves. When I am identifying bird photos sent to me, I must ID the bird from one static photo. This can be tougher but in other ways easier, as I'll explain. When I go to identify a photo that people send me I usually have much more time than the person in the field who took the photo. ...

Well love 'em or hate 'em Gulls are complicated. They are also fascinating, especially when you get into the different plumages, ages and hybrids. They take lots of work and are super frustrating to ID but when you get the identification right you sure feel rewarded. I am constantly learning when it comes to Gulls and since it is not my forte, I am constantly trying to improve my Gull ID skills. Gull experts study Gulls to the point of exhaustion... to the point that they don't really look at any other birds because Gulls are that complicated. It takes dedication and amazing ability. I know when I first got into birding I hated gulls. I thought they were boring and uninteresting, but that is far from the truth; especially when you get into the stunning Hooded Gulls. There is a young birder in Victoria named Liam Singh who I think one day could grow up to be one of these Gull Experts. His skill at identifying them is better than most adult birders. Anyways, if you want ...

I get several questions about the difference between accipiters. The most common ones are between Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks and between Cooper's Hawks vs Northern Goshawks (to a lesser degree). Next, I get many questions dealing with a certain race of buteos the Western Red-tailed Hawk and Harlan's. So I thought I would do a post on these to help answer those questions. I will deal with Cooper's and Sharpies and not Goshawks because they are much more common here and look much more alike. My friend John Reynolds inspired me to write this up. COOPER'S AND SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS EYE COLOUR - YELLOW OR ORANGE? RED? Normally a juvenile Cooper's hawk has a bright yellow eye and a Juvie Sharpie has a orange eye but some cooper's can have a dull yellow eye that looks a bit orangish. Cooper's Hawks usually only transition to the orange eye colour when they are sub adults, so in good light, it's a very very reliable feature. However you ...