Below is a chance to test your knowledge of bird size, by selecting the heavier species in each of five pairs of birds. Weight, or apparent bulk, is one of the key factors in our impressions of overall size, and it’s helpful to think about it explicitly. Watch the birds at your bird feeder or your local patch, paying attention to how they move, how stable they are in the wind, how a perch moves under them, etc. to get a sense of weight.
[mtouchquiz 8]
This is the best quiz yet! I say that mostly because I got three of these wrong, so obviously I need to work on this.
I think the size part of GISS is one of the more difficult things for novice birders to master. Everyone can appreciate that there are subtle differences in shape that take practice to recognize, but we all think we know size from day one. Raptors are tough and predatory, so obviously they’re big…so how could that little thing be a sharp-shinned hawk? Having birds pigeonholed (pun intended) in your mind into neat groups that share similar size is a tough habit to break.