jeffy@teda.UUCP (Jeffrey Youngstrom) (02/28/91)
Heya,
I'm new to bird watching and to this newsgroup.
The main thing I'm looking for is a book along the same lines
as Botanical and Entomological identification guides I've seen
in the past which provide a series of questions about the
specimen in question leading you along a decision tree with the
eventual outcome (in a perfect world :-) of a positive
identification. Are there books like this for birds? (Titles,
I need titles! :-)
Anyway, the bird I saw yesterday walking around in the grass
common area at my apartment complex (This is San Francisco Bay
area) eating something out of the grass was about the size of a
large Robin and about the shape of a young chicken (minimal
tail, and stocky), jet black chest, rich brown back and wings
with black speckles and a bright yellow-orange beak. Legs
were, I think, black. I leafed through my Field Guide to
Western Birds but didn't find anything that looked likely.
Anybody know?
And while I'm wasting bandwidth, any of you Bay Area types have
a phone number or address for a local Audobon chapter, or other
local birding group?
I've gotten attracted to this since I started walking to work,
and have seen lots of birds I do recognize, and lots more I
don't. It would be great to find either a book where I could
figure it out myself, or a group of people willing to share
their knowledge. (In the last couple of months I've consistently
seen several Common Egrets in the canal along which I walk, a
Burrowing Owl lives along there too. This week there's been a
pair of Mallards who seem to have established a residence, last
week I saw a Red Tail Hawk being chased by a blackbird (quite a
funny sight!), loads of Redwing Blackbirds making lots of noise
in the spring-like weather we've been having lately. A couple
of months ago I scared up a Pheasant on the walk, and one really
Bizarre sight on a cold rainy day back in December, a bright
yellow Parakeet looking bird trying unsuccessfully to convince
a flock of blackbirds that he was one of them. He was very tame,
allowed me to get almost close enough to touch him, so I assume
he escaped from some distraught INDOOR bird type. I wish I could
have caught him as he must have had a hard time of it in the freeze
we had a week later.
Anyway, I've babbled too long so I'll shut up.
Keep those trip reports coming!
jeffy
--
Jeffrey Youngstrom ...!{decwrl,sun}!teda!jeffy or jeffy@altair.csustan.edu
Teradyne EDA West | 5155 Old Ironsides Drive | Santa Clara, CA 95054
"I watch the sky instead of television." -- Marilyn Hackerjahayes@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (03/01/91)
In article <21421@teda.UUCP>, jeffy@teda.UUCP (Jeffrey Youngstrom) writes: > Heya, > I'm new to bird watching and to this newsgroup. > > The main thing I'm looking for is a book along the same lines > as Botanical and Entomological identification guides I've seen > in the past which provide a series of questions about the > specimen in question leading you along a decision tree with the > eventual outcome (in a perfect world :-) of a positive > identification. Are there books like this for birds? (Titles, > I need titles! :-) So what you're looking for is a dichotomous key for bird i.d. Such things do exist, but frankly, field identification rarely allows the kind of character differentiation that is necessary...you get to see three or four fieldmarks, and then it flies away and you leaf through your field guides. You will find that you will rapidly develop a "gestalt" ability, so just glancing at a bird you'll be able to narrow it down to something (for example) duck-ish, or warbler/vireo-ish, or woodpecker-ish...and then you'll have narrowed it down to only a few plates (in my book, it'd be about 10, 20, and 4, respectively, for the classes above). I use the current Golden Guide; the pictures are fine, especially for a beginner (although it lacks some species that apparently are cur- rently recognized - the Western Grebe has been split, and I never knew!). Different people use different guides. Go to a bookstore, or better yet, a nature bookstore, and check out their stock. REI has a fair selection, as does the Nature Company (both Berkeley stores). > Anyway, the bird I saw yesterday walking around in the grass > common area at my apartment complex (This is San Francisco Bay > area) eating something out of the grass was about the size of a > large Robin and about the shape of a young chicken (minimal > tail, and stocky), jet black chest, rich brown back and wings > with black speckles and a bright yellow-orange beak. Legs > were, I think, black. I leafed through my Field Guide to > Western Birds but didn't find anything that looked likely. > Anybody know? > Yep. Sounds like European Starlings to me; they can be surprisingly beautiful in sunlight, all iridescent...but they are exotics, and therefore difficult to find in the field guides sometimes. We had a flock of about 100 yesterday in our backyard, hopping and waddling like a bunch of fat old men. Josh Hayes, Zoology, Miami U (Ohio) jahayes@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu ..and while your at it, keep the nightlight on inside that birdhouse in your soul. (They Might Be Giants)
misan@ra.abo.fi (Annika Forsten DC) (03/05/91)
In article <21421@teda.UUCP>, jeffy@teda.UUCP (Jeffrey Youngstrom) writes: > Heya, > I'm new to bird watching and to this newsgroup. > > The main thing I'm looking for is a book along the same lines > as Botanical and Entomological identification guides I've seen > in the past which provide a series of questions about the > specimen in question leading you along a decision tree with the > eventual outcome (in a perfect world :-) of a positive > identification. Are there books like this for birds? (Titles, > I need titles! :-) Yes, there is such a book. It was edited by John Farrand Jr I think and is grey with plastic covers. I also think it is an Audobon Guide, but I can't remember the exact name. It is one part of three, this part is a beginner's aid to identification, just what you're asking for. The other parts are on Western and Eastern Birds. Nice photographs, cheap and should be available in all better book shops. At least they were in Florida. I can check out the name if you like. Annika Forsten, Finland