You might want to try http://www.whatbird.com/forum/ Blake To: blakemathys@hotmail.com

I was expecting a few more replies from ID-Frontiers. Perhaps most people didn't have a strong opinion on the identification. A better picture of the tail would probably have increased the response rate...

I find these suggestions of 'looking at the bird while it's singing' interesting, because I have heard this before from others. I've certainly try it...but it doesn't seem to make much difference for me. I have never tried taking field notes of bird song, as Greg Gillson suggested, but I'm not sure what I would write down. When I listen to music, I never have any idea what instrument is being played, and I think I have a similar problem with bird sounds. I hear the sound, but my mind doesn't separate out the parts and pieces. I'm going to try to take field notes over the next couple of weeks, and see if I can make some progress. My next blog post will contain the results.

Ahh, yes. You make a good point, and I realize I was a bit hasty here. Seabirds of course have interesting and diagnostic sounds (I always enjoy playing Atlantic Puffin sounds for non-birders). My point, I suppose, is that we rarely use sound for seabird identification, except near nesting sites. The majority of my seabird encounters, and I think this probably holds true for most ABA-area birders, have been visual observations from a coastline, lake shore, or pelagic boating trip. To quote David Allen Sibley: "Generally silent at sea".

My hope with this post was to suggest that you can be reasonably certain, because you can use uncertainty as a "field mark". When identifying birds in the field, we must accept that we won't always be right (and genetic testing would probably reveal many stealth hybrid individuals that look like stereotypical examples of normal species). My idea for this post is to suggest a further identification clue that will help lead us to the correct identity. If used with caution and concern, I believe this approach is appropriate for many identification challenges.

Thanks for sharing Mike, I appreciate your willingness to admit your mistakes and learn from them. And as we can see from Orion's response, you can certainly be excused for misidentifying this bird. I looked very closely, and I think I see where the confusion is coming from, at least based on the picture. The length of the bill is not obvious, due to blending in with the fence post behind it. The dark spot toward the end of the bill is not actually at the end. The light tip is a similar color to the fence post behind it, giving the appearance of a shorter bill. Once I realized how long the bill actually is, it made the identification as a Little Blue much more obvious.

Thanks for your comment. I remember a conversation I had with my birding friends once; I asked: "If you quit birding, how long would it take to forget what a Bufflehead looks like?" Although it seems impossible, it would happen eventually. The key is to keep remembering, through field experiences and any other means available (books, internet, etc.); anything to remind ourselves. As long as we keep doing that, most identifications will be as easy as recognizing an old friend.