When identifying birds, recognizing color patterns is extremely important. But to take full advantage of this technique you need to become familiar with a bird’s anatomy by studying and using the terminology found in field guides. Follow the link to the “All About Birds” website and practice memorizing the labels used to identify the parts of a bird.
Look at the bird to the left and try to name the features that are highlighted with arrows. Practice memorizing as many parts as you can using a website or book.
Below is another wonderful video, created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, that can help you improve your birding skills by observing color patterns. While watching the video use some of the words you have learned and try to describe the birds fully. You can pause the video to give yourself more time.
After watching the video, learning as many parts of the bird as you can, try to describe the image of the bird below.
Example:
"white breast, red on crown, white spots on wings, eye ring white"
"white breast, red on crown, white spots on wings, eye ring white"