3 Useful Tools for Bird Identification

Bird identification is one of the most important parts of birding. To some, this is also one of the greatest challenges involved with the hobby. Fortunately, there are tools that can help make the process of identifying a bird to the correct species much easier. Here are three tools that you can use to help correctly identify birds.

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Panasonic LUMIX FZ80 4K Digital Camera
Used for most bird videos) - check credits as we do source some photos/videos elsewhere which is noted in the description

Cayer FP2450 Fluid Head Tripod, 75 inches Aluminium Tripod
Derek's lighter tripod

Andoer Video Tripod Aluminum Alloy 67 Inch
Derek's heavier tripod

Nikon D5300
Derek's vlogging and macro camera

Rode VideoMicPro Compact Directional On-Camera Microphone
Derek's external microphone for Nikon D5300

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Thanks to Terry Sohl for allowing us to use his range maps

All other photos and videos by Derek and Ryan Sallmann

#Birding #BirdWatching #BadgerlandBirding

[estanislaomongelos]

Hi! Nice channel!

I´m from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

I´m not a big fan of Merlin app, I consider very imprecise. There is an app called "Aves Argentinas" which have a lot of information about breeding, habitat and behavior, and is more precise when you put some of the features of the bird, but right now has less of the half of the Argentinian species.

When I go to the field, I used a guide book ("Aves de Argentina" by Bernabé López Lanús or "Aves de la Provincia de Buenos Aires" by Tito Narozky and González Táboas, which is more specifically) and a notepad where I list all the species that I see and took some notes when I can´t identify some of them.

Keep going with this amazing videos!

[Hummingbirder]

For US: I'm "old school"... I use National Geographics field guide (now into edition 7), when necessary combined with the site Birds of the World and/or Sibley depending on species and what the conundrum is. This all bcs I'm almost 67, from Sweden and had my first US trip in April 1995 (California & Florida). No apps and stuff back then.
(This behaviour goes for the rest of the globe I've visited)
Doing a fast, non-searching, draw-from-the-hip guess/ID's: 1 Loggerhead Shrike (mask to wide from eye-bill for Northern) 2 Short-eared Owl (could ofc be Long-eared when not deep diving into ID field marks) 3 Neotropical Cormorant imm/juv

[Happywife]

Thanks for sharing this tools to identify the birds properly.

[lindap]

I'm old school, Sibley's is my favorite bird guide. BUT, I've been birding recently with a friend who uses Merlin and I'm gradually being won over. We dedicate extra time and effort to a bird Merlin has detected but we were unaware of, resulting in more species sighted than w/o Merlin's help.

[Phoebe_like_the_bird]

For field guides I personally like National Geographic a lot, but Sibley's is absolutely my favorite. It shows so many birds in different plumages, and even in-flight paintings! Good stuff.


As for ID's...Loggerhead Shrike, Short-eared Owl, Double-crested Cormorant!

[badoeno]

Nat. Geo. guide is my favorite (7th ed. just purchased) for many years. I also have Audubon, Sibley, Stokes, Peterson, and the old Golden guides. iBird Pro is my prefereed electronic guide.
Lots of choices available.

[purple-ergz]

My daughter makes an excellent bird guide, I pointed out what I thought were baby ducks and she informed me they were Little Grebes 😂

[TOWERS]

I'll give it a try
1-loggerhead shrike
2-short eared owl
3-double crested cormorant
🙂

[johnCOR-]

We also use the Merlin app. But as well we have a couple of bird books for further research. Thanks for this. God Bless

[birdingwithrivercorcoran]

Great video guys, thank you for the helpful tips. I have used Merlin before, but prefer to use my Sibley guide!

[nathanwebb]

That's awesome! I have some great field guides that help identify birds.

[arectechafterwork]

I prefer the Merlin app because it's portable and most always with me. I do have some books at home but I use Merlin most of the time lately.😊

[RoyceMarcus]

Would love to see you guys do a comparison of bird guides.

Also use the sound ID is merlin religiously, but just tried the photo ID for the first time. Gotta say - I was quite impressed.

[danielreid]

I love Merlin, especially the sound ID feature. I found so many more species when I started using it. Unfortunately that feature doesn't work in Mexico where I'm located now.

[Grateful_Dad_]

I'm guessing the last 3 birds on the video are Loggerhead Shrike, Short-eared Owls, and Double-crested Cormorant. Thanks for the ID tips!

[danae-rain]

I no longer check out the what's this bird groups on FB or Reddit as there are two many dead birds due to window strikes. Cause most of the time the person has no intention of taking precautions to prevent further window strikes. When non birders try and ask me what kind of bird they saw I find asking them where was it, what was it doing and size helps narrow it down enormously. And I know if they say they saw a crane they saw a heron or egret. In the PNW you won't stumble on a Sandhill, you have to go find them.

[ichhasseamerika]

Thanx! Would the Merlin app work here in Europe? (republic of ireland)

[snowyowl]

Loggerhead shrike, short-eared owl, and was that neotropic from a LA video? I hate cormorant ID. #GreatCormorantsAreSuperior

[brendanelson]

i use merlin and multiple bird books finding out is part of the fun

[pauraque]

Merlin is so trash, it identified a MacGillivray's Warbler as a freaking WATER RAIL yesterday. Like wut? (remember your YBCH moment 😂)

You need only three things to be a god at identifying stuff: National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 7th Edition, The Sibley Guide to Birds (all north america) [if you live in europe get the Collin's bird guide {better than sibley's and nat geo IMO}], and a good friend that will get you connections to all the birding legends in the area (so you guys can converse and gain random knowledge). Oh and of course sub to Badgerland Birding (duh).

Loggerhead Shrike, Short-eared Owl, Neotropic Cormorant (look at that tail length, gawd damn 🥵)