When
trying to quickly identify some birds before daring to refer to one’s field
guide in case the bird should exit, mnemonics can help. Especially if you rely strongly
on sight identification rather than sound, this form of memory association helps. For example with flycatchers, the R for Restless reminds
me that the white goes Right to the chin. With robins, the mnemonic ‘Flames go
up”, reminds me to check if the colour goes right up to the bill.
I wonder
if anyone else has some mnemonics that
could be useful!
Jacqui Sheppard
