Can you recognize birds as individuals?

As an avid backyard birdwatcher (114 on my list - 115 AS OF 8/16), I've become very familiar with the birds that frequent my yard. We are especially fond of the birds that we can identify as individuals. For example, we have a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers. So, I'm pretty sure that when I see a Red-belly that I am looking at the bird who has been living in my yard for the past few years. But it is impossible to be 100% sure. I suspect that the Red-belly female is not the same one that was here when I moved here four years ago. The male has specific behaviors (stuffing sunflower seeds in the eaves) that make me a little more certain about him.

I'm interested in knowing how you can identify specific birds either by behavior, appearance, or sound, not just by territory (and what did you name them!). Please, please tell your stories. Here are mine:

We have two other birds that we know, one by sight and one by sound. There was a Tufted Titmouse juvenile two years ago who sounded like it had a spring in her throat. Last year, we caught her eating eggshells, so we're pretty sure that it's a she. We call her Lizard because that's what her call note sounds like she's saying. She has had several batches of babies and has brought them in to the feeders last year and this year.

We also have a female Eastern Towhee, the only red-eyed one on the place. She's been here for at least three years. She is missing some feathers from the center of her tail, making a V, and one side is cocked up higher than the other. She's been a mother as well, so her handicap has not hindered her in any way that I can tell. We call her Miss Split-Tail. I know, not the most flattering name, but it certainly fits.

We also had a Northern Cardinal female a couple of years ago that had a belly so light that it appeared to be white. She had one set of babies because there was at least one daughter who had that trait, but unfortunately, she and the daughter were both picked off by a stray cat. Some now are lighter underneath than the rest, but I've not seen that color duplicated.

This message was edited Aug 19, 2009 8:56 AM

Hi Pillita, I know exactly what you mean. We have a number of pairs of Red-bellied Woodpeckers that come to our yard for seeds and suet and each one seems to have little things that differentiate one from the other. One male has a bold white stripe that goes across the top of his head while the other 2 males do not have that but there is quite a size difference between these 2 other males.
Names... well I'm not very creative with names but White Stripe and Big Daddy were as far as I got.

There are also a number of Red-bellied juveniles coming in with different stages of coloring but many look alike so I'm not sure of the exact number around.

Sounds like you have a nice variety in your yard. Business seems to be picking up again at our feeders after some slow times.

A stripe - that would be pretty neat. I've not seen any size difference here among the same type of birds. The male wren we had for a couple of years was buffier than his mate, but that's about it.

Your woodpeckers tolerate each other? Mine will allow no other Red-bellied in the yard. (His name is Mr. Red-belly and his wife is Ms.) Their own children have about three weeks before they're chased off. I've seen others sneak in for the peanut butter, but they get in and out pretty quickly.

Summer is usually pretty slow (only 10 feeders) for us too, but we'll usually have about 40 Cardinals by fall and then here come the migrants and winter residents.

They will only tolerate each other if their at different feeding stations in the yard.
We have 2 places, one is at an apple tree where there is a squirrel buster w/ seed and 2 separate suet feeders with hot pepper suet and then in the middle of the yard there is a baffled pole system with the same type feeder and 3 different suet feeders. During cooler months we put out more seed feeders. I really enjoy all the woodpeckers they have a lot of personality!

I have many common birds that visit my feeders and think the same ones come back time and time again. Easy proof of that at the moment is a bald blackbird - pretty easy to spot! I haven't managed to get a decent photo of him yet though!

A bald blackbird would be pretty distinctive. Any idea why he is bald?

I would like to think as well that the birds I see are all the same ones. I know that it is likely that the Tufted Titmouse that nested in a tree cavity near my house is the same one who did so last year, but I can never really be sure, can I? I read about some very interesting research done on a population of Barred Owls in an old neighborhood (Virginia, I think) with mature trees. The researchers noted that any Barred Owl who died or disappeared during the course of their study was very quickly replaced by another with no one other than the ornithologists being the wiser. I know that this is probably happening here all the time which makes these unique birds all the more special.

Oh yes!!! There always seem to be the ones that have that something extra that makes them stand out!

We had a male hummer in 2007 & 2008 that we named Ed. He had a short stocky no-neck look when he perched that reminded us of Ed Sullivan. I had a shepherd hook out front close to the feeder and he perched on it all the time. Last year he became so agressive in not letting other birds come feed that I moved it for this year.

We had not seen him this year until the last week when a male showed up perching & guarding the back feeder. We believe it to be Ed!

We also had a very fiesty female Red-bellied Woodpecker that I named Sassy. She took no nonsense from any other bird. I loved seeing her come. She appeared to maybe an older bird maybe. Anyway at some point over the last winter Sassy disappeared and I haven't seen her since.

I've two Redheaded Woodpeckers that frequent my grains feeder lately. I can see the distinctive differences on the two.

But with others likes the purpfinches, chickadees, wrens I can't really tell which is which, they all look the same. lol.

Hopefully nothing bad happened to Sassy. Maybe she just found her a mate in another territory. It may be silly, but I prefer to think of them living somewhere else happily unless I actually see the corpse. That's a very apt name for a Red-bellied.

We didn't even put out hummingbird feeders this year because of last year's aggressive males. We have had a female nesting near here for the past couple of years and we watched one of the bully males knock her to the ground several times and her with babies! This year in the spring, he chased her and she got her bill stuck in the screen porch. My mom gently pushed her out. Without feeders, the males moved along and all the summer flowers were for her alone. She had two young ones again. We believe her to be same one because of the way she flies up to eye level and peers at my mom through the screen, saying thanks again, lady. I also heard a story on NPR a couple of years ago that made me cry about a hummingbird overwintering in a sunroom in Maine. They hand-fed it all winter and the same bird did come back to see them. What a good memory in that little, tiny head and they are much smarter than most people give them credit. Bird-brain, indeed.

Lucky you, Lily, to have Redheads! We had one and sometimes the pair come in sometimes the first two summers I was here, even bringing a juvenile a time or two. Now we only see them fly over occasionally. Such a striking bird. Even my then teenage clueless about birds daughter noticed that one. I could never tell the difference between them, but one did gift me with a feather once. Dropped it for me right there on the ground as I was watching him/her. We've never gotten Purple Finches or House Finches here, just ten gazillion Goldfinches in the winter.

I'm not sure why "my" blackbird is bald, maybe he had a mite infection. I've not seen him since I came back from my holidays - he must be looking for food elsewhere!

No, I can't tell one bird of a feather from another of the same feather. I do have a Carolina Wren that has been enjoying my mealworms. Since I haven't seen two at once, I guess the one I'm seeing is the same individual.

I'm trying to get some blue birds coming, but no luck as of yet.

Hack

I had a bald Cardinal that I saw a few times, but not anymore. I guess he grew his feathers back.

Here's the link with the pic where I asked what it was: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1021878/

Hack

This message was edited Aug 16, 2009 10:30 PM

A bald bird would definitely stand out. How unusual.

Good luck with the bluebirds. We had them the first two years. Saved some and lost some. I know that I am anthropomorphizing, but they are the most "emotional" of all the birds I've seen and are very interesting to watch.

I read somewhere that October is the month where maybe I'll start to see some new birds at my feeders.

I'm brand new at this bird watching and have already enjoyed many peaceful evenings just watching the activity around my feeders.

So, I'm looking forward to October.

Hack

Migration has already started. I live for spring and fall for just that reason. I'm obsessed with warblers and we get most of those only during migration. It actually starts in the middle of July - Black and White Warbler is always first - for me here and for you too, I bet. Start looking now.

Definitely put up a peanut butter feeder. Birds will actually line up in the tree above it waiting for a turn. You'll get birds there that won't go to the regular feeder. It has far and away been our best investment. Our mix is crunchy peanut butter, uncooked oats, cornmeal and cooked grits, if I have them left over.

We had a catbird for two seasons named "Lord Byron" due to a noticable foot problem.

Lord Byron - excellent name! I adore catbirds. We have them as winter residents.

Sometimes you can tell individuals apart by the "moxie factor" of how quickly/aggressively they approach the feeding station; some individuals are more timid than others of the same species.

"Lord Byron" would actually sit just 6 feet away while bird food was being put out at the feeding station, while the other catbirds would hang back 20+ feet. The food of choice for a lot of birds is the cooked egg yolks left over every morning; a household member cooks 3 eggs every morning, but only eats one yolk, so the other 2 cooked yolks go out, chopped into little pieces.

The blue jays swoop in very quickly for the bigger pieces, and the normally shy male cardinal then comes in, with the catbirds jostling for position with the remaining cardinals. then come the smaller birds, and I hide tiny bits of yolk over to the side for my favorite carolina wrens, who wouldn't get any due to the popularity of the yolks, since they are consumed in preference to bird seed.

Yolks are a rather expensive bird food, right?!? I jokingly say to the person who eats the eggs, "what's next, caviar?"

Never feel guilty for pampering some small creature that may have a short and difficult life. I did try putting out leftover scrambled eggs just once and not a single bird touched them. Now we have a chihuahua who feels entitled to any breakfast leftovers.

I didn't realize that Carolina Wrens lived as far north as Massachusetts. I did read, though, that their range has been expanding in recent years. Good story.

I've a question that you maybe able to help explain? I've watched many a time Purple finches and Cardinals feeding their young at the feeder. Occassionally feeding their mates during nesting season. But, the last couple of days, I've noticed female(s) Cardinal will chase the juvenile cardinal away from the tree (where the young birds) come to beg for feeding.
I've also noticed that occassionally the juveniles will land at the feeder but still not successfully retrieve the seeds/grains from the feeder, but Papa is more tolerance of the youngs than Mama?

Maybe mama cardinal is using "tough love" for the juvies to do it on their own, or she maybe working on one last brood, even though it is late in the season.

In either case, it's tough for humans to watch "rejection" patterns, but in the long run it strengthens the chances of survival for the young 'uns.

Mother nature works her marvelous ways, sometimes it seems harsh but actually it's an act of deep maternal love, me think. ^_^

I've notice our female cardinals chasing their babies as well in the past couple of weeks. The woodpeckers do this also. I guess it forces the young ones to leave and find their own territory. Our yard (open space approx. 1-1/2 to 2 acres surrounded by woods and ten feeders) supports six cardinal pairs. That is what we have during the winter and spring, but by the start of fall with all six of those pairs having had probably two groups of young, there are at least forty to fifty cardinals there. When they start coming out of the woods right before dusk, it is truly a wave of cardinals. The food just won't support that many, so they chase them away.

So the cardinal in the yard down the road probably started its life at my house. Makes me feel good to help populate the neighborhood.

I do wonder, though, if the mothers chase the daughters and fathers are responsible for driving away the sons. That's the way it seems to me.

Pillita, we're very fortunate to be able to enjoy nature as we do. Others may never have the chance or opportunity to ...

BTW, how do we tell Cardinal Juveniles' gender? Do the male juvenile feather look red as well? I'm new to bird watching and recently learned that a Juvenile cardinal has dark beak. By far I've only seen what appeared to be female juvies, and not yet a male? Or do they look alike when they're young? The male and female, do they look alike when they're young?

This message was edited Aug 20, 2009 7:43 AM

Our young ones are at the point where the males are starting to show some of the typical bright red coloring and the females look mostly like the adult females, maybe just a little more patchy on coloration. I can't tell when they are younger. The young juveniles just out of the nest look so strange to me that if it weren't for the beak, I wouldn't have believed that they were cardinals at all.

I wish I could go back a few years and recapture that excitement of being a new birdwatcher. It seemed like I was seeing a new bird every weekend and it was thrilling. What wonderful memories - the pine warbler on top of a branch and the titmouse dangling below each holding on to the end of a caterpillar and screeching - the magic of standing still and having birds in the trees all around you close enough to touch - a new sound in the woods. Sigh. Wish I were home now...