When you find a bird you do not know, try to spend as much time watching it as possible. A note pad and pencil can be used to jot down notes on what you observe. It is often helpful to compare the bird in question to a familiar yardstick bird. Head shape is greatly influenced by the bill, which may be short and thick in seed-eating birds, long and thin in sandpipers, flat and broad like a duck s, or hooked at the tip as on a hawk. Colors are probably the most noticeable field marks for birds, but it is also important to note where the color is placed.
Many birds have a colored head, throat, breast, or rump.
Often the colors are in distinct patterns like streaks, bars, or spots. Many songbirds have contrasting wing bars, lines of white or another color created by the colored tips of certain wing feathers. Other birds may have white on the tail sides or on the tip of the tail. Most birds prefer a specific habitat for feeding or nesting. Waterfowl prefer lakes or rivers.