Tags
birding, birds with brown plumage, birdwatching, brown birds, brown feathers, LBJ, little brown job, small brown birds
In birder-speak (and, actually, also in mycologist-speak), there’s an oft-used abbreviation for those small brown birds that look very much alike and so can sometimes be difficult to identify: LBJ (Little Brown Job). I think you can see why.
(To be completely honest, not all of these images are from LBJs; some are from BBJs. I won’t ask you to guess what they are.)
I’ve been trying to identify the different dunnocks on our patio, and am gradually being able to perceive the differences by looking at home red their legs are (if at all) whether there is feather patterning on top of their heads or if it’s mostly slate grey, and so on. I hadn’t realised that the ones patterning on their heads are adolescents. Now I understand why they ‘peep’ so much more than the adults! (I call all dunnocks ‘peepas’ and have to hope, now, that I’ve not offended any of the more adult clan!)
A good way for people to ‘get over’ the idea that all these different but similar-looking avians are just little brown birds, is to put images of them into Photoshop or a similar program, and oversaturate the colours – some amazing variations will come out, not least reds and blues that are, otherwise, not perceptible. I do wonder what the birds themselves can see in each others’ feathers that humans can’t see at all.
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An interesting idea, Val, thanks! 🙂
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I was relieved to know that there would not be an interrogation!
I watch ‘my’ birds from my first floor window and it is, sometimes, difficult to tell when looking at a Dunnock, if it is, in fact, a female House Sparrow! But not always.
Even though a lot are brown, the variations are still beautiful.
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I am also a first floor person but see most of my birds when out and about. And their similarities have fooled me more times than I care to admit. 🙂
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