BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 22, 2024
When it comes to building bird identification skills, there are five levels of proficiency. Level one, identification by sight. Tip: Don’t rely on color. Rely on field marks. Level two is identification-by-sound. Tip: 20 percent of the birds make 80 percent of the noise. Learn to recognize the bird songs you hear most often. Level three, understand bird ranges. Tip: Wherever you’re going, get familiar with what birds to expect there. Level four understand habitats. Tip: Recognize habitats. Level five rewards recognition of bird behaviors. Tip: Observe behavior. Duh. The trick to better bird identification is to sort them into smaller and smaller piles by size, color, field marks, noise, ranges, habitats and behavior. Until there’s only one left. ~ Bob Duchesne