Describe the bird you saw
Got a photo? Use the bird identifier. Heard it? Try the bird song identifier.
What to tell us
5 things- 01
Size
Against something you know: smaller than a sparrow, about a blackbird, pigeon-sized, bigger than a crow.
- 02
Two colours
The two that stood out, and where: a red breast, a black cap, white wing bars.
- 03
What it did
Hopped or walked, climbed a trunk, hovered, flicked its tail, came to a feeder.
- 04
Where and when
Garden, wood, coast, river or town, and the month. Many birds are only here in summer or winter.
- 05
Any sound
A song or call written as you heard it: “teacher-teacher”, a harsh chatter, a soft coo.
What people write
And where it leads“Small brown bird with a red breast, hopping on the lawn in December”
Most likely: Robin
“Black bird with a bright orange beak, singing from a chimney at dusk in March”
Most likely: Blackbird (male)
“Tiny bird with a yellow stripe on its head, flitting through a fir tree”
Most likely: Goldcrest
We’d ask: Was there a white stripe over the eye? That would make it a Firecrest.
“Pigeon-sized, pale grey-brown, a thin black half-collar, cooing three notes on the roof”
Most likely: Collared Dove
“Bright red bird with a crest and a black face at my feeder in Ohio in winter”
Most likely: Northern Cardinal (male)
“Big black and white bird with a long tail, chattering in a park tree”
Most likely: Magpie
We’d ask: Did it have a long, wedge-shaped tail? That rules out the black-and-white woodpeckers.
Next time, point your phone at it
The Birdfact app identifies a bird from a photo or its song, out in the garden, and keeps everything you see in your garden list.
- Photo and song identification
- The look-alike side by side, every time
- See the bird life-size, in 3D
Questions
4Can I identify a bird without a photo?
Yes. Describe what you saw and we’ll work it out with you: a question or two about size, colour and what it was doing, then the likeliest birds, side by side.
What should I put in my description?
Its size against a bird you know, the two colours that stood out, what it was doing, and where and when you saw it. Even “small, brown, red breast, December” is often enough.
Is it free?
Yes. Two descriptions without an account, and five a month with a free account.
Species occurrence data: eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0, doi:10.15468/aomfnb; aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. Download: doi:10.15468/dl.3ggph5