(delhibirdpix) Difficulties of identifying a bird

Dear All,

 

Any serious birder always experiences difficulties in correctly identifying a bird. Of course it goes without saying that skills that are required for identifying a bird on the basis of a photograph and doing it on the basis of observation in field are of different kinds. The latter skills require expertise and knowledge of birds of the region, its habitat, the seasonal changes, the migratory pattern, the places on the mirgratory route that the bird is likely to stop, the knowledge of the call of the birds that could be found in the area and the uncanny ability to eliminate all others similarly lookinng specie from the most probable one. This is easily said than acquired. The lighting conditions, the difficulties that one encounters in telling one specie of bird from another on the basis of fleeting observation of the type of bill, tail, head pattern and general size of the bird makes the process of identification even more difficult. Then there are obstructions of a branch, leaves, reeds that give only a partial view of the bird.There is no shortcut to the acquisition of this skill.

 

The bird that I post here is one such bird. I got only a brief (probably 5 seconds) to identify this bird before it went flew away. Of course experts would identify correctly which bird this could be. I was not able to tell was in those fleeting moments. Only after it made a reappearence was I able to identify the bird. It was a lifer for me.

 

Just to make friends aware of the hazards of identifying a bird in field.

 

This bird was seen on Kausauli road in Himachal Pradesh at an altitude of about 4000 feet.

Dilip Pandit

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