Birders are like detectives searching
for clues to allow them to narrow in on a group of suspects. The more evidence they can assemble the
better chance they have of positively identifying the culprit. When identifying
Birds experts use the four keys to ID as our main body of evidence. If they can
put these clues together they can can positively identify their bird. On this episode of Inside Birding, we're
going to show you how to use one of the most frequently overlooked keys to ID:
habitat. Over millennia birds have evolved unique
physical adaptations that best suit the habitat they live in. These habitats
represent everything a bird needs to eat, reproduce, protect itself from predators,
and generally survive. I like to think that habitat is as much
a signature of a bird's identity as its color pattern, behavior, or song. Living
around an aquatic habitats like this is as much about being a heron as living in
a field is to being a Meadowlark. Learning to understand and read habitats is key to becoming a better birder. Before we can start putting habitat clues to work for us, we need to become familiar with the
different type of habitats where birds live. Habitats can be broken down into four
very general categories. These are: forested or woodland
habitats which can be either coniferous or deciduous. Water or aquatic habitats
which include lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, open ocean and shoreline. Scrub Shrub Habitats which can be
recognized by short woody plants and bushes. And finally, Open Habitats like
grasslands, agricultural fields, and tundra. It's helpful to think of the four keys
to identification: size and shape, overall color pattern, behavior, and habitat as an
ordered process for identification. They're the steps we take that allow us to
accurately identify birds, but unlike with the other three keys, habitat is
something we consider twice when we're out birding. it's both the first and the last
questions we ask ourselves So it's mid january and we're down in
Florida at the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. It's a beautiful piece of habitat. You can
see we've got some nice tall cyprus behind us, vast wetlands out in front with some
open water and emergent vegetation like cattails and rushes. Looks like a good
place to find Little Blue Heron, Common Moorhen, maybe an Anhinga, but if we're really
lucky we might get a shot at seeing the elusive Limpkin. Man, check out this habitat! That is a Great Blue Heron. There are a lot of Yellow-rumped warblers calling over here. Check out this male Anhinga. This is a perfect spot for Anhinga; all these shallow wetlands. There must be tons of fish here for this
for this bird. Swampy shallows like this area
are perfect habitat for Little blues to forage in. Oh wow! Look at that. It just snagged a little fish! Great egret, right here. It's so cool like when they're foraging
they just so still. Really different approach from the Tricolored heron, a
Reddish egret--a really active feeder. Yeah, these birds love to stalk through
reedy shallows like this looking for fish. Cool! Very nice! Let's go find that Limpkin. Yeah! Looks like to be a good spot for a roosting Limpkin. Oh, check it out Apple snails! These are the favorite food
of the Limpkin. Look how big they are. Man, that's gotta be something juicy. You know he's gotta be around somewhere! Oh look! There it is! Alright. So let's go over size and shape
first. It's definitely bigger than a Glossy
Ibis, smaller than Woodstork, it's kind of shaped like an overgrown
rail and it's got this nice long bill with a slight curve. Yeah it's brown overall. See those white speckles and spots on the upper parts? Ok, there it goes keep an eye on it! I don't think it's going too far. Oh! Look right there. Ok, so this is a classic behavioral clue. The bird skulking around, using that long bill to
probe in muck-- probably foraging for apple snails. All right we've got this bird in our sights. We've gone over size and shape, color pattern and behavior, and we can be
pretty sure from those that this bird is a Limpkin, but before we're totally certain we need
to re-ask ourselves the habitat question. What are the chances that this bird
could be occuring in this habitat? But we can't leave out an important
consideration-- birds migrate and this can influence the
type of habitat we find them in so we also need to consider time of year and
habitat question by asking: could a Limpkin actually be in this habitat in
mid-January? In this case, the answer is yes! We've got
a Linmpkin! When we're out birding we always rely on
our observations of habitat to help us confirm the identities of the birds we
see. So to recap, the first thing you want to
do when you arrive at a location is identify the type of habitat you're in and ask
yourself what species of birds are you likely to find there. Then once you've
spotted a bird spend time observing it using the first three keys to ID :size
and shape, color pattern, behavior, and finally, reconsider the habitat question
by asking could the species of bird I think I'm
seeing actually occur in this habitat at this time of year? Remember the four keys to identification
aren't about memorization. They're about observation. And the more time you spend in the field watching, the more you'll find your ID skills improving. Each time you're out in the field, you're presented with a variety of clues.
Sometimes you just need to slow down in order to see them more clearly. So get out there, watch closely, and take
your birding to the next level.
