RE: mnemonics for learning birds

[Rob Roy <>]

Jacqui,

 

Nice idea and hopefully a useful thread.

 

I must admit I had a problem remembering which small black waterbird is a Dusky Moorhens and which small black waterbird is a Eurasian Coot. Both are very common around my area.

 

I now remind myself with the last letter of the beak colour - reD beak is a Dusky Moorhen, whitE beak is a Eurasian Coot.

 

Regards,
Robert Roy
www.roblog.com/4images/
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From: Jacqui Sheppard [
Sent: Tuesday, 27 January 2004 10:41 PM
To:
Subject: [BIRDING-AUS] RE: mnemonics for learning birds

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