| BIRD IDENTIFICATION TIPS |
| Simplified Identification for Long Island Birds Birds on these pages are grouped by category, and identification is made simple by use of snapshot photographs. Find the bird by photo first, then click for more information on each. |
| GENERAL ID TIPS: Field Marks: Look and remember! Color Size Wing Bars Bill size & shape Chest streaking Eye ring/stripes Head markings Tail Behavior Is Important too: Feeding Behavior Ground Feeder, Insect catching? Any tail bobbing/wagging? Appear shy/bold? Slow/Fast moving? Notice Habitat: Fields, woods, marsh? High in trees, low in shrubs? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ID TIPS |
| Links to Bird Identification Sites ID By Bird Name/Category ID By Color ID By Question Egg Identification Specifically Hawks Cornell Bird ID 123 Bird Songs By Bird Name Some NYS Birds Help IDing Song |
| DUCKS/LOONS/GREBES (click) There are 3 types of Ducks (all found on Long Island): Puddle/Dabbling Ducks Diving Ducks Sea Ducks Also Loons & Grebes (click here for quick photo identifications) |
| BIRDS OF PREY (click) Types of Raptors found on Long Island: Hawks Owls Falcons Eagles/Osprey/Harrier (click here for photo identifications) |
 |
| Duck Butts - Can you ID the ducks?? |
 |
| Tips on Purple & House Finch ID Quick ID tips: A male House Finch's head has a reddish to orange eyebrow and forehead, contrasting with a brown cap, and a brown ear patch.....a male Purple Finch has an all over raspberry-red colored head, with a lighter pinkish eyebrow, raspberry cap, and dark brown/raspberry ear patch. A female House finch has no face markings, and thin breast streaks....a female Purple Finch has a broad whitish eyebrow, and heavy breast streaks. Another Hint: A male Purple Finch's breast is streaked with raspberry red (no brown), where a male House Finch's breast is streaked with tan or brown. click here for photos |
| Black Duck & Mallard Hybrids Hybridization between these two species is common on Long Island, where the two are in such close proximity. The Mallard drakes are more agressive in their mating displays, and therefore "win" the females of both species more easily. There are a lot of questions and research regarding this issue, and some researchers believe both ducks are really the same species; the Black Duck being a diffrerent morph of the Mallard. Here is a picture I took of a hybrid at Blydenburgh Park., probably Mallard/Black Duck hybrid. |
 |
 |
| A Site About Long Island Birds & Birdwatching |
|
|
| WADING BIRDS (click) Types of wading birds found on Long Island: Herons Egrets Night Herons Rails Ibis Bittern (click here for photo identifications) |
 |
| SHOREBIRDS (click) Types of shorebirds found on Long Island: Sandpipers Plovers Yellowlegs/Dowitchers Oystercatcher Avocet/Whimbrel (click here for photo identifications) |
 |
| Can you find the bird? Can you ID it? |
| WARBLERS (click) Types of Wood Warblers seen on Long Island: Those colorful, fast, high in the trees birds that migrate across Long Island in the spring. Some stay and nest, most move on. (click here for photo identifications) |
 |
| Can you guess the Warbler? |
| Want more information on a specific bird? Type the name in the search box. |
 |
 |