North American Bird ID and Education

As hawk watch locations across North America start hiring and counting migrating raptors, the raptors themselves are gearing up to head wherever. I've had the opportunity to see and photograph a lot of raptors in the past two years. The two common accipiter hawks, the sharp-shinned hawk (or "sharpie") and Cooper's hawk are often mistaken for one another. While the sharpie is usually considerably smaller than the Cooper's, size can be difficult to judge in the field. Sharp-shinned hawks often travel in pairs during migration.

I hope this graphic helps you to visualize some of the differences between these two species.

Few warblers retain their breeding plumage into fall. Most warblers transition into a nonbreeding/winter plumage after their young have fledged. Some look kinda close to their breeding plumage, but others look radically different.

Anyone else getting out and looking for shorebirds? I got a lifer yesterday after-the-fact--a stilt sandpiper. It blended in well with the short-billed dowitchers.

Here is a link that helps me with shorebird ID!

While we're not seeing a lot of purple finches around the US right now, it's always good to brush up on your bird ID knowledge. Here is a good comparison between these two commonly confused species. You should primarily focus on the lack of distinct stripes on the body, the raspberry tones in the purple finch wings, and the facial coloration and pattern. Male house finches usually have a gray ear patch that lacks any reddish color, whereas the purple finch usually has a really distinctive pattern covered in raspberry.

Sparrows are often difficult to distinguish when you are just learning how to identify birds. Fortunately, they each have specific field marks to help you out! For example, most of their faces are radically different.

But also, it's probably a song sparrow.