Birdwatching is a popular and growing hobby enjoyed by a significant number of people worldwide. When you go out for bird watching, the most important question that comes to mind is “How will I identify the birds in their natural habitat?” Some birds are very bright in color and conspicuous in their habitat, making them easy to identify. However, some birds are dull in color, very fast-moving, small, and rare to see. How will you identify such a bird?
India, a country rich in biodiversity, ranks among the top ten nations with the world’s most diverse ecosystems. Its vast biological diversity accounts for about 7% of the world’s plant species and 6.5% of its animal species. India is home to four biodiversity hotspots and hosts many endemic species, including birds. The country boasts approximately 1,300 bird species. With such a wide variety and numerous species, India attracts birdwatchers from all over the globe. Each year, people flock to its renowned birding sites to observe the birds.
The Indian subcontinent, abundant in birdlife, contains 106 bird families out of the total 213 found worldwide. One key reason for India’s high avian diversity is its range of habitats, from the arid, cold deserts of Ladakh and Sikkim to the lush, tangled jungles of the Sunderbans and the wet, moist forests of the Western Ghats and Arunachal Pradesh. There are more than 554 important bird areas in India.
Now that we’re out in the wild looking for birds, how can we tell them apart easily? If you remember the call, color, and flight of a bird properly, it’s fairly easy to tell which one it is. Two different species may sound the same, but they are certainly different in body color or flight pattern. This makes it easy to tell them apart by at least one or two things.
In this blog post, we are going to learn about the identification tips for Indian birds, keeping in mind the color, call, and flight pattern of the bird.
Understanding Bird Identification Basics
To differentiate between different bird species, you need to look for more than one factor. For example, if you are only looking for color, then it is difficult, and there are chances of confusion because it depends on the time of day, distance, age, and season.
You have to pay attention to every aspect of the bird and follow one bird at a time. Small birds are difficult to tell apart, especially groups of warblers, which look almost similar to each other with slight differences. You have to observe them carefully and from a distance so that you do not disturb their normal behavior.
Every birdwatcher should know these crucial things:
- First, try to identify the kind of bird by looking at its shape and size, and its behavior. Compare the features with the birds you know, like the crow, pigeon, bulbul, etc.
- Posture and behavior: Some birds stand up straight, while others stoop over. Some birds walk, some hop, some fly, and some climb.
- Also note down the habitat or place where you are seeing them: in the city, the forest, the marsh, or the grassland.
- Time and season: Many birds are active only in particular months and season like most of the cuckoos, are vocal with the arrival of summer.
A binocular and a field guide is must; with the help of binoculars, you can see small details and follow the birds for a longer duration from a distance, and a field guide helps you to identify the species, if not, then at least the group you can identify. Carrying a field notebook is also essential, where you can note down the observations. These notes are your natural history observation notes, which are going to be very helpful in identifying the birds. Carefully written observations can be published in a magazine or journal.
Identifying Indian Birds by Call (Sound)
The first clue to the bird’s presence is her call. In forests, farms, grasslands, or woodlands, we listen to the birds quite often rather than seeing them. Identification of birds by their calls is one of the most useful skills a birdwatcher can acquire.
The sounds produced by the birds are basically either a call or a song. Both serve different purposes; calls are short and simple, mostly for alarm or warning, and songs are longer, musical, and mostly during the breeding season. You should recognize the pattern, rhythm, and repetition of a sound.
In towns and villages of India, the melodious song of the Asian koel or the repetitive sound of the coppersmith and brown headed Barbet is very common in their respective seasons. These songs and calls are so unique that even a layperson can identify the birds without seeing them.
The chattering of the Red-vented bulbul is also a familiar sound, producing short and lively notes. Their calls are social and continuous. Another bird found in the garden and suburbs is the babbler, mostly jungle babblers. They hop on the ground and form hunting parties, sometimes with other birds, and produce many calls that actually become noise.
The house sparrow, a small bird, produces a repetitive chirping sound, which is a common sound in cities and near homes. Their call confirms their presence in the bushes, on the balconies, or on the rooftop.
Birds are most active early morning or evening, so listen to them and learn their calls. Try to connect the sounds with words, rhythm, or situation, then it becomes easy to remember and identify them, for example: Brain fever bird, the call of the common hawk cuckoo is like a brain fever word.
Our popular tour: Tiger, Taj & Birding Tour in India
Identifying Indian Birds by Color and Marking
Colors and markings on the birds are the most identifiable features of birds, but they must be used carefully because the light conditions, distance, dust or water, and time of day make a difference. So, it is better to focus on patterns and contrasts than only on bright colors.
Start with the observation of overall color tone – whether the bird looks brown, grey, black, green, or brightly colored. Then find out the distinct markings, such as stripes on the head, patches on the wings, or bands on the tail. These markings mostly remain visible even when the colors are not bright.
The white-throated kingfisher is easy to identify from a distance because of its bright and strong color contrast. Even without binoculars, you can easily see the bright blue wings, white throat, long red beak, and brown body.
A small marking is also very helpful, take for example the Red-vented Bulbul. Though its body looks mostly brown or grey, the red patch under the tail is a major identifying feature.
Sexual dimorphism is quite common in birds. Mostly, males are very colorful, while females are dull in color. In Purple sunbird, the males have metallic purple feathers, while the females are olive brown in color. Also, in peacocks and other pheasants, males are always very brightly colored, while females are less colorful or have dull colors.
Another thing to notice is that young birds are different from their parents, and also some birds change color with the season. Painted stork young ones are gray, while adults have bright red spots on their feathers. Seasonal color changes are also common in birds. Observing color with other features is helpful to identify correctly.
Identifying Indian Birds by Flight Pattern
Flight patterns are another very helpful way to identify the bird, especially when they are far away, flying high, or seen only briefly. Many birds have a unique style of flying pattern which helps us to recognize them easily, like the Indian roller, which has a flying pattern like a roller coaster, or the Asian paradise flycatcher, which has a flight where its long tail is conspicuous during the flight.
Again, you have to follow a bird and try to notice some unique features in their way of flying, the way they move through the air. Some birds fly very smoothly, while others flap their wings fast, and some glide. You can observe the way they fly, like straight, wavy, or circular.
Birds of prey, especially large ones like Black kite, are seen soaring in wide circles using the air current (thermals) to soar. Bird-like vultures also do the same; they don’t flap their wings, take a run, slightly flap, and then use thermals to go up.
On the other hand, small birds like barn swallows, prinias, and warblers are very fast and constantly move from one place to another. If you observe them, you see how fast they are. They change direction quickly, swoop low over open areas, and rarely glide. Their speed helps, and their habitat aids in our identification of them.
Combining Call, Color, and Flight
If we combine call, color, and flight, then we get the most accurate bird identification. If we depend on only one feature, we might get the wrong identification, but if we combine the different characteristics altogether, then we will get the most accurate identification of the bird.
For example, you hear the melodious call of a koel, though unique, but if you combine it with the color of the bird, which is black, and the flying pattern, in which the bird fly in between the trees, then it is definitely a male Asian Koel.
Another example is, you are sitting in the ground, and you see a bird which keeps moving from one bush to another and also comes out on the ground and mostly feeds on insects and worms, with a black head and grayish body and a small red under the tail, then definitely it is red vented bulbul.
When you start identifying major bird groups like Sparrow, Crow, Pigeon, Bulbul, Kite, and Vultures, you also get an idea of their size. For example, if you need to find the Great Pied Hornbill, you can compare its size to a vulture. Additionally, recognizing a group of birds by their traits boosts your confidence in identifying specific species. For instance, there are many types of Bulbuls in India, but most references point to the Red Vent Bulbul because it’s the most common.
If you practice all of these methods and spend time identifying the birds by their unique traits and identification features, then it will become easy for you to identify even the toughest group of birds.
