I admit that in my younger days, birds were not on my mind. I identified birds by color: red, blue, black. The rest appeared as just grayish, brownish birds. All of that changed upon becoming a Master Naturalist. Now, not only do I think more about birds, but I am obsessed with correctly identifying and logging them into my eBiird list.
Having joined FeederWatch a few years back, that helped me actually SEE birds. I still identify some by color simply because of their uniqueness. However, I now can call them by name … RED Northern Cardinals, BLUE Jays, BLACK crows, Eastern BLUE birds, RED-winged BLACK birds, etc. No more are many just grayish, brownish birds.
Over the past few years, assisted by FeederWatch, I have identified 39 different species and over 100 different individuals … and that is just from my own backyard. Here in East Texas I find the usual culprits. I regularly see tit mouse, chickadees, chipping sparrows, Northern Cardinals, Blue Jays, and house finch.
On occasion, I have caught sight of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, White-breasted Nuthatch, Downey Woodpecker, Carolina Wren, Dark-eyed Juncos, Pine Warblers, Northern Flickers, Indigo Buntings, and, well, you get my point.
Beyond my backyard, but still in my neighborhood, I have seen Bald Eagle, Pileated Woodpeckers, Pine Siskin, Hairy Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebes, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Great Blue Heron (we live next to a pond), and a Greater Roadrunner.
Beyond my neighborhood, with the help of Sibley Birds 2nd Edition, my travels gave me the joy of identifying Osprey, Brewer’s Blackbird, Black-billed Magpies, American White Pelicans, Williamson’s Sapsucker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and a Pyrrhuloxia. I could go on, but this is probably boring to anyone who is NOT A BIRDER. Suffice it to say that if you are not a birder, I ask, why not?
Oh, I almost forgot about sparrows, so many sparrows. Truly, the only grayish, brownish birds left own my list. Why? There just seems to be so damned many of them. So, how can I learn the different ones that I see? Challenge accepted.
I definitely do not consider myself an expert birder. However, with a bit of patience and a lot of research, I can identify most birds that I see. And, I see them as more than grayish, brownish.
Happy Birding!
Wade Village 