Approaches to Bird Identification & A Kirtland’s Warbler
I recall an interesting conversation I had at the Midwest Birding Symposium on approaches to bird identification. To set the stage, I also dug up a few more decent shots of the Kirtland’s Warbler at East Harbor State Park, western Lake Erie in Ohio (September 18, 2009).
An eager crowd searches for the Kirtland's Warbler at the park's Meadow Trail. By then, the day's heat was intense and the bird was probably skulking low in the bush. Or running from the hundreds of birders who were hot on its trail. (Notice: not a khaki shirt in the crowd--except behind the lens!)
The crowd dispersed but returned hours later after hearing that the bird finally showed itself. This image is a bit dark, but shows the tail and body proportions better than my other shots.
Not every rare bird will make me drop everything and bolt for the door. But the beauty of this warbler and its unfortunate status as an endangered species meant this bird was not to miss!
Yes, there's a bird in this photograph. Experts examined the tail feathers, which indicate this is a first-year male. Perhaps someone can explain why/how in the comments?
We eventually noticed an artist lurked in the crowd. Above, Peter Burke mindfully sketches the bird that flitted about in the bush. Peter is an accomplished birder, artist, an author (you can find his work in New World Blackbirds, The Birds of Chile, and National Geograhic's Birds of North America, among other places). He is also a professional guide with Field Guides Birding Tours Worldwide. Behind Peter stands Chris Ashley, Park Maintenance Supervisor at East Harbor State Park, who was quite pleased the Kirtland's decided to land in HIS park, and not a few miles in either direction.
When Peter's sketch was complete, we made him stand at the front of the class to show his work.
"How did he do that?" we asked. The bird never stopped moving for more than two seconds! Watching an artist sketch an image into life is like watching black pixels fall onto a blank page, quietly arranging themselves into a recognizable form and beauty. Sure, artistry takes study and long hours with a pencil, but I think it also takes a drop of magic.
At lunch I had the pleasure of sitting with Connie Kogler (Birds O’ The Morning blog) and several professional guides from Field Guides Birding Tours and Guatemala Nature Tours. We struck up a conversation about different approaches to bird identification.
Alvaro Jaramillo had just given a presentation that morning about looking at the “whole bird” and letting its Gestalt register your brain, just like the image of your mother, sisters, and brothers are embedded in your memory, letting you instantly recognize them (I hope that adequately captures the gist).
This is somewhat different than the traditional approach of reducing a bird’s identity down to the sum of its field marks. That is, starting with the details and working up to the whole. As someone who often birds this way, I sometimes “don’t see the forest for the trees” and need to back up and see the bird, the whole bird, and everything about the bird; its behavior and habitat.
People’s tendencies are probably hard wired for one or the other approach, and early training in the hobby sets you on a particular path, but greatest success in bird identification comes from placing energy into both methods.
My brain throbs and sweats just thinking about it, but expert birders and artists like Peter are adept at “seeing” birds from both these perspectives with ease.
I’m interested to know:
How do you approach bird ID?
What can you do to develop a more holistic approach?
Have you ever successfully switched from one method to the other — what was that like?
We will never tire of obsessing about this bird! Thanks for sharing Peter’s drawing- everything old is new again with this post.
Cheryl
I think there’s something in this Laura. I woudl use the acronym jiz (general impression of size & shape) rather than gestalt but certainly I am much more likely to be able to ID a bird, even a more difficult one if I’ve seen a few before. Sometime I struggle to recall key details from a field guide in amongst all of the debris in my head but let a juvenile Long-tailed Skua (jaeger) fly past or a Roseate tern call and the recognition is instant.
Righto, jiz is a common term for it here, too. Discussion of it isn’t new, but it seems to emanate most strongly from bird experts who have been doing this most of their lives.
My theory, and it’s only a theory, is that many experts started birding before they had pressure or desire to name anything (if I had a penny for all the guys I know who started at age 8). This allowed them the pleasure of sitting back and examining the “whole” before they had to muscle themselves to a precise identification. Thus, the jiz makes perfect sense.
But when people start birding as adults, in this sport where accurate ID is so important and one is shamed for getting it wrong, people DO muscle themselves into an ID, and sometimes miss the big picture.
I’m interested in specifics of how less experienced birders, who are stuck in the “from the details up” method, can apply the holistic method to their bird ID skills. Can you teach jiz? What say you?
Let me see if I can add my 2cents.
Excerpt from Wikipedia: An analogy for jizz might be identifying a friend across the street by the way they stand, sit, or walk: you recognize the person by their mannerisms even though you cannot see your friend’s face.
To be able to do this you need to spend time with this friend observing them (not necessarily consciously). Same with birds, you need to spend time with them, and before you know it you will have the GISS/jizz or gestalt power.
This is a key skill that expert birders posses (at least for the species they have spent time observing), but this skill/knowledge alone does not make one an expert.
I say to any new birders or those that are frustrated:
Slow down and leave that fast paced world behind you.
Take your time and enjoy being surrounded by nature. This is what it’s truly about!
Listen and observe everything, because it all plays a vital role.
You will learn more having a long time observing one bird, then a paced trip seeing 100 birds.
And always remember, it’s not a race!
Just my experiences, I’m sure others mileage may vary.
Tony
Peter – You have a blessed talent!
Laura, you raise and interesting question, stemming from a more interesting observation: I never pieced together the “early-birders” are more jizz oriented than “later-in-life birders,” or that those adult-newcomers were more focused on field marks while long-term-from-youth birders focused more on proportions.
My knee-jerk, late-Sunday-night thought is jizz can be learned at any stage of life, or birding tenure; it certainly can be taught. In fact, in 2006 O’Brien, Crossley, and Karlson’s “The Shorebird Guide” was released as a different type of field guide, one that focused on gestalt/jizz rather than field marks.
But ultimately, the bottom line is that both avenues of identification play a significant role – I bet jizz is involved in many of songbird identifications whether you’re aware of it or not, from that silhouetted, droopy-winged, upright posture American Robin to that shaded upside-down White-breasted Nuthatch on your backyard tree.
So, anyone who’s been observing birds (really observing, not just “ticking”) is already doing it, whether they’re trained to or not, just like they recognize their family, friends, and neighbors across the way. You should check out “The Shorebird Guide” to see how they approach teaching ‘jizz identification.” Like Tony says, the more time you spend the more you learn to look past the superficial field marks. The trick is to find a way to spend that amount of time with a Kirtland’s Warbler!
-Mike
Mike, well said.
I would like to add that Roger Tory Peterson tried to teach the importance of shape in his early field guides by including various species silhouettes inside the front and back cover (at least they are in my 1947 printing).
All good points. And Mike, you’ve given me yet another reason to run out and get that Shorebird Guide that everyone raves about.
http://www.amazon.com/Shorebird-Guide-Michael-OBrien/dp/0618432949
I’m interested in this at the brain level, whether or not this is a matter of right brain, left brain dominance.
We know that time in the field is the best training, but when later-in-life adults come to birding, are there mental tricks for using both parts of their brain–switching from parts to whole to parts again–to capture an ID? Is it as easy as it sounds or are we limited by previous experience and tendency, and therefore must build that brain muscle? You know, some sort of Richard Simmons “Build Your Brain Fantastic!!” sort of thing!
[pause for visual: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_aazos8dmW9Q/RxeXjGP9mTI/AAAAAAAAAdY/f9_L7N5NyU8/s320/simmons.jpg
People often recommend sketching in order to become intimately familiar with a bird, and I know that works.
But can there also be something said for the more organic approach of simply admiring a bird in its surroundings (to see the bird, the whole bird, and everything about the bird) with no pressure to ID? The answers will come when they are ready to…
As teachers say, a student cannot learn something until they “have a hanger to hang it on.”
This past spring I spent a tremendous amount of time birding in unfamiliar areas and learning new sounds of new birds. I needed/wanted the IDs, so I approached the practice in a very studious manner. I studied sounds, I wrote sounds, I sketched birds, I made notes, I filled my head with info on plumage, ranges, and sounds like never before. By the end of the season, I felt I had overdone it, and didn’t make the gains that my study warranted. So, even though I used all the recommended methods and spent loads of time in the field, I found that muscling it to that degree didn’t make anything stick (unless it is completely buried). So, a more “chill” experience is definitely in order for spring 2010…
Laura, my response to your comment,
“But can there also be something said for the more organic approach of simply admiring a bird in its surroundings (to see the bird, the whole bird, and everything about the bird) with no pressure to ID? The answers will come when they are ready to…”
is *absolutely*! Happily, this is something we all control for ourselves, right?
An exercise I found really instructive is something I picked up from Jeff “Ol’ Coot” Wilson from Memphis, TN. While birding with him one cool November afternoon he talked about his method to learn about each bird: get as close as possible, watch for as long as you can stand it (or the bird lets you), study all of the details you can see: colors of feathered and bare areas, the way the feathers lay, and so on. Then back up 50 feet (we were watching Horned Larks in an open, muddy field) and watch again. Back up again, watch again, and keep doing this well past the last time you could make out a field mark. You’re left with the gestalt of the bird, how it holds itself, how it moves, not to mention the habitat and interactions with other individuals. Methods should probably vary with species.
That takes a lot of patience and discipline, but watching Jeff pick out the single Western Meadowlark as a dozen Eastern Meadowlarks flew by the windshield was impressive, to say the least. And we did stop and verify it!
Regarding mental tricks for using both parts of the brain, waaay back a friend turned me on to “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards. I believe she wasn’t an artist per se, but a psychologist studying right vs. left brain functionality. Or something. If she wasn’t a practicing psychologist she sure came across as one.
As I remember it, her premise was that to draw accurately, comfortably, realistically (and so on) you needed to engage the right hemisphere – not an easy task since some huge proportion of us are “left-brained.” Drawing with that hemisphere engaged doesn’t work very well. The master’s were/are all adept at shifting from left- to right-dominance, something that I venture Peter did/does. Check out Betty’s website: http://www.drawright.com/
And definitely find a copy of the book, it really teaches you how to “see” differently, not just draw.
Enough rambling, but I can’t help it – interesting topic!
-Mike
Wow, what a great thread in the comment section Laura and Mike. Got to get more interaction on my own blog!!
A reversed way to Jeff’s is to try to ID the bird first without bins. And then get closer to see details to confirm.
Had a nice experience with my 2.5 year old daughter today. She is still not using binoculars.
I asked twice: What bird is that?
At some distance she correctly id:ed Blue-black Grassquit and black morph of Vermilion Flycatcher in the park. I am quite impressed. She must have been using jizz as they are both small and black, but do have different posture.
It does definitely not hurt to start early.
Gunnar, that’s a huge accomplishment and I’d be beaming ear to ear if that was my offspring!
Maybe my last question is: “So what if you’re in a hurry (to bag an ID?)?” Ha ha.
I hear the proverbial Soup Nazi ( a reference to an American situational comedy called Seinfeld) saying “No ID For you!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ3AOmZ2fps
I really enjoyed this thread, it’s been fun to read the different opinions. As someone who likes to draw birds I can say that it definitely contributes to my ability to make ID’s because I am looking at the entire bird repeatedly. Further, every time I attempt to draw a certain species, it seems that I am learning something new about it. A good foundation on bird anatomy is something I highly recommend to anyone who wants to become a better birder. Furthermore, understanding how the anatomy changes from group to group will further crystalize your ability. I was one of those early-age birders who studied the guides and drew birds constantly while I was growing up. Many hours went into it but I never considered it an extra effort (but I think I would now at this point in life!). This all sounds like work, and truth be told it is. Everyone takes what they want from birding and it is up to the individual to explore whatever aspect of it they want to sharpen. But it is obvious from these comments that there are a number of ways to become more familiar with birds and it is up to you to find the way that you enjoy most. Or you simply enjoy them for what they are and where it takes you.
Peter
Ps. Many thanks for all the wonderful compliments!
Peter, if you are interested, HappyBirding.org has a gallery setup for artist and photographers to share their work with other birders.
Found here: http://www.happybirding.org/hbforums/forumdisplay.php?f=5
I would love to see more of your work.
By the way, are you the same Peter Burke bird artist from “National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America”?
I just got that guide for my 2yr old son and he loves looking at all the bird pictures.
Tony
Thanks for site Tony, I appreciate it. Yes, that is the same me. I am currently putting a website together and hope to have it up soon, so if I can get Laura to give me more promotion at some later date, you can see more of my work there. Great to hear your son likes to look at bird books! He’s hooked!
Thanks to everyone for contributing to this great thread. Please send me your URL when your site is finished, Peter, and I’ll post it here.
This morning, I am heading over to The Nature Conservancy office to interview Dave Ewert, one of the specialists in the Kirtland’s Warbler recovery team who initiated the Bahama’s research and education effort. More about that at a later date. The Kirtland’s Warbler keeps on giving…
Pete is amazing, hey I have seen him draw astounding stuff since we were teenagers and he never ceases to impress me! But getting to the point here, Peter’s suggestion to study anatomy and look at how birds are put together is a great one. In workshops I have done, one thing I have found useful is to take a feature that you know, like “wingbars” and try and imagine where the wingbars would be in different groups of birds. Most of the species we look at that have wingbars are songbirds, like warblers, sparrows, vireos etc. So look at a warbler photo or a real live warbler with wingbars and determine that the feather groups they are on are the greater and median coverts. Now, find those feather groups in other entirely different birds and in your mind draw wingbars. It is amazing how different the shapes of the wingbars are on a gull, or a nighjar, or a sandpiper, or a hawk! They cease to look like classic wingbars actually, because the anatomy of these birds is so different than that of a warbler. I find that this type of exercise makes me really appreciate anatomy, and how it differs in various birds.