BIOL123/136/130 Field Biology
Birds: Identification and Sampling
Sarah Collins
Male blackcap Sylvia atricapilla
Outline of Lecture: Singing wren Troglodytes troglodytes
• Basic identification
• Beaks and flying
• Sampling
• Sounds
• How to put into practice
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/ummz/#Passeriformes
Phylogeny of Birds
30 orders http://macaulaylibrary.org/
kingdom 180 families http://animaldiversity.org/
phylum
class 2,000 genera
order
family 10,000 species
genus
species.
Mute swan Cygnus olor
Birds of Britain
The number of wild birds in Britain has fallen by 73 million
since 1970.
The British List (maintained by BOU) stands at 640 species(2024)
(Category A = 622; Category B = 8; Category C = 10).
• Species in Category A: recorded in an apparently natural state
at least once since 1 January 1950.
• Species in Category B: recorded in an apparently natural state
at least once between 1 January 1800 and 31 December 1949
but have not been recorded subsequently.
• Species in Category C, although introduced are now self-
sustaining populations (includes red kite, rock pigeon)
https://bou.org.uk/british-list/
Getting started
➢ Familiarise yourself with your ID guide so you can find your
way around your book
➢ Learn the most common birds you are likely to see in that
habitat and location
➢ Narrow down the options once a bird appears
➢ Look at :
▪ Size and shape
▪ Colour
▪ Behaviour
▪ Habitat
➢ Try an identify at least the family or genus, is it a finch? A
bird of prey? A wader?
➢ You can try and describe any sound you hear – translate
into mnemonics
Always have your binoculars with you!
Know your bird book
Know your bird book
Apps that can help with Bird ID (sound mainly)
• The Merlin Bird ID app covers around 1,054 species of
birds
• Areas include:
o United States, Canada, Europe, and the Western
Palearctic, and coverage of more common and
widespread species in the Neotropics and India
• BTO helped develop the data for the Birds of Britain and Set your ‘Bird pack’ for the location you are
Ireland in, and your GPS to track where you are
https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
Online resources that can help with Bird ID
https://ebird.org/species/cirbun1
The puzzle of birds
Juvenile
Non-breeding adult
Juvenile 1st Winter
Breeding adult
Sub-adult 3rd Winter
Dunlin – Winter
Dunlin – Summer
Swift Apus apus Barn swallow Hirundo rustica
Willow warbler Chiff chaff Cetti’s warbler
Basic Identification → Bird Beaks: Clues to diet
European bee-eater (Merops apiaster)
Basic Identification → Bird Wings: Clues to flight type
Feathers and flight
High
Broad wing – slow flight, high power for lift off
manoeuvrability
Narrow wing – high speed, poor lift off
Good
manoeuvrability
Good
manoeuvrability
Reasonable
manoeuvrability
Somewhat poor
manoeuvrability
Longer ‘hand’ better manoeuvring
Sampling
What do you record:
▪ Count • Species diversity
▪ Direct/look see • Numbers of individuals
▪ Point counts • Activities – nesting, singing, foraging
▪ Transect • Specific species presence/absence…
▪ Sound recording/analysis Points to note:
▪ Point Decide on how far away the limit on whether you count
▪ Transect a bird should be
Consistency in effort (time or repeats etc.)
▪ Playback (especially for rare or important species)
▪ Mapping territories
▪ Counting roosts, flocks
▪ Mistnet – with ringing
BTO official bird sampling
Breeding Bird Survey:
• Visit 1 km2 areas each year allocated to volunteers –
recon visit + two bird count visits
• Two parallel lines: 1km in length, 500m apart, and
about 250m from the edge of the square.
• Record all birds they see and hear as they walk (4
distance categories <20m, 25-100m, over 100m, flight
only)
• Time around 90 mins in the morning (usually April/May
and again in May/June)
• For some species large numbers capped at 10 (all
waders)
BTO official bird sampling
Waterways Breeding Bird Survey WBBS:
• Transect methods akin to those of the Breeding Bird Survey
(BBS)
• Count the birds along rivers and canals
• Adapted to a linear habitat.
• Volunteers walk along from 500 metres to a maximum of 5 km
of waterway, making a note of all of the adult birds that they
see and hear.
• Surveys are conducted twice a year, between April and June
• Covers all bird and mammal species
• Valuable for monitoring the population trends of specialist
animals of linear waters, such as Goosander, Common
Sandpiper, Kingfisher and Dipper.
BTO official bird sampling
Wetland Bird Survey WeBS :
• Monitoring scheme for non-breeding waterbirds in the UK, all year round
• 2,850 wetland sites of all habitats; estuaries and large still waters predominate
• Core Counts are made using so-called ‘look-see’ methodology (Bibby et al. 2000) once per month
• Expert volunteer observers
• Extra Low tide counts in estuaries
• Identify all the waterbird species present
• Count the number of individuals of each species
WeBS sites near you
WeBS Online (BTO/RSPB/JNCC)
Sampling
Species diversity
Acoustic sampling – Acoustic Indices
Wallace’s hawk eagle Nisaetus nanus
Summary
• Phylogeny of Birds
• Lots of species
• Basic identification
• Get the right group
• Observe the basics
• Use an app
• Learn the sounds
• Beaks and flying
• Different wing/beak shapes
• Adapted to species ecology
• Sampling
• Visual, acoustic, behavioural
• BTO data collection good model
