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.

Twites can appear more colourful than Linnets. Photo: Steve Young (www.birdsonfilm.com)

Linnet and Twite

When male Linnet loses its summer plumage it becomes another small brown finch, and is less easily separated from Twite. Keith Vinicombe...

01/01/2010

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Baird's Sandpiper

Baird's Sandpiper

Keith Vinicombe unravels the ID intricacies of separating Baird's Sandpiper from potential confusion species, White-rumped and Semipalmated...

01/01/2010

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Meadow and Tree Pipits

Our two commonest pipits are very similar and best separatedby habitat and song, but there are other reliable differences between them, as...

01/01/2010

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Hudsonian Whimbrel an Francisco, California, September 2008, by Chris Harbard

Hudsonian Whimbrel

Keith Vinicombe made the most of two rare opportunities to compare Hudsonian and Eurasian Whimbrels and puts the case for splitting them.

01/01/2010

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Black Redstart by Steve Young

Common and Black Redstarts

Female and juvenile Common and Black Redstarts on migration aren't as straightforward to identify as breeding birds. Keith Vinicombe points...

01/01/2010

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Juvenile Wood Sandpiper at Seaforth, Lancashire, by Steve Young

Green and Wood Sandpipers

Among the earliest of the southward-bound waders, Green Sandpipers are sometimes mistaken for scarcer Wood Sandpipers. Keith Vinicombe...

01/01/2010

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Whooper Swans by Steve Young

Bewick's and Whooper Swans

Winter brings Bewick's and Whooper Swans to favoured wetlands in Britain. Keith Vinicombe explains how to separate these two similar...

01/01/2010

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Glaucous Gull by Steve Young

Glaucous and Iceland Gulls

Late winter is the peak time for the white-winged Glaucous and Iceland Gulls in Britain. Keith Vinicombe explains how to separate these two...

01/01/2010

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