Identification

Is that a female American Wigeon or a hybrid? American Golden Plover or the rarer Pacific? Some of birding's best-known ID experts provide the answers to these and many more identification conundrums.

Juvenile Velvet Scoter (Clitheroe, Lancashire, 26 December 2009). Photo by Steve Young (www.birdsonfilm.com).

Identification

Velvet, White-winged and Stejneger's Scoters ID photo guide

There was a time when any scoter with a white wing-bar was simply a ‘Velvet’. Not any more, as what was once regarded as a single Holarctic...

27/01/2015

Identification

Identification: Little Shearwater

From the archive: Anthony McGeehan looks at one of seawatching's biggest identification challenges, the diminutive Little Shearwater....

16/12/2014

Identification

October ID tips: British and Continental Coal Tits

In autumn, the British subspecies of Coal Tit can be joined by numbers of the nominate subspecies from the Continent. See if you can...

01/10/2014

Identification

September ID tips: Black and White-winged Black Terns

Black Terns will be moving through on passage this month, with hopefully a few White-winged Black Terns mixed in. Learn how to separate the...

01/09/2014

Identification

August ID tips: Eurasian Curlew and Eurasian Whimbrel

These two similar-looking waders can be easily confused in late summer by the unsuspecting birder. These top tips will help you separate...

01/08/2014

Identification

July ID tips: female Yellowhammer and Cirl Bunting

Found in Devon and Cornwall in Britain, Cirl Bunting isn't a species that all birders will be familiar with. If you're taking a trip to the...

01/07/2014

Identification

June ID tips: Peregrine Falcon and Hobby

These similar-looking falcons both breed in Britain and are increasing in numbers. Both likely to be seen in June, they can easily be...

01/06/2014

Identification

May ID tips: Stock and Feral Rock Doves

Birders want to see genuinely wild birds, but in the case of Stock Dove this can be problematic, with the widespread and very similar Feral...

01/05/2014

Female Common Redstart (Lesvos, 9 April 2006). Photo by Oliver Smart (www.smartimages.co.uk).

Identification

April ID tips: Common and Black Redstarts

Spring migration is in full swing this month, and two species that will certainly liven up a day's birding are Common and the much scarcer...

01/04/2014

Ringed Plover (German North Sea coast, 14 August 2010). Diagnostic in the ID of this species is the obvious white wing-bar in flight. Photo by Stefan Pfutzke (www.green-lens.de).

Identification

March ID tips: Little Ringed and Ringed Plovers

This month sees the arrival of Little Ringed Plovers to Britain. But these small waders often share their breeding habitats with the...

01/03/2014

Ring Ouzel (Uto, Finland, 2 May 2008). Photo by Robert Pekkarinen.

Identification

Ring Ouzel photo ID guide

Early spring produces the first migrant Ring Ouzels, with robust but shy males and females appearing on open lowland ground on their way to...

13/02/2014

Black-necked Grebe at Dungeness RSPB, Kent. Photo by David Featherbe.

Identification

February ID tips: Black-necked and Slavonian Grebe

With their red eyes and largely black and white winter plumage, at this time of year Black-necked and Slavonian Grebes can appear very...

01/02/2014

Latest Rarities

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21/08/2017 22:50	Wilson's Storm Petrel Cornwall Details
21/08/2017 22:49	Great Shearwater Cornwall Details
21/08/2017 22:35	Laughing Gull Sligo Details
21/08/2017 22:23	Western Cattle Egret East Sussex Details
21/08/2017 21:36	White Stork Devon Details