Owls and pigeons and doves

The next card deals with two quite different medium-sized nonpasserine bird groups: owls and the pigeons and doves.

When do they fly?

Although owls are famous for being nocturnal, it is useful to know that some will readily hunt during the day, while others are rarely seen while the sun is up. In short, the Tawny Owl and Long-eared Owl are pretty rigorously nocturnal in their activities, while the other three species can be seen out in full sunlight, particularly Barn Owls, when there are young in the nest to feed.

Pigeons vs doves

Although these terms are pretty interchangeable, the word pigeon is used more often for the larger species, particularly those of the genus Columba (Woodpigeon, Stock Dove and Rock Dove/ Feral Pigeon); while those smaller birds in the genus Streptopelia (Collared Dove and Turtle Dove) are always called doves.

Eye colour

Somewhat surprisingly for birds which are not often seen up close and personal, eye colour can be useful in identifying owls. Tawny and Barn Owls have dark eyes, but the real crux comes with the similar

Short-eared and Long-eared Owls. If all you can see of a roosting ‘eared’ owl within a bush, is part of its face, then the eye colour can help identify it: orange for Long-eared and yellow for Short-eared.

Wing and tail pattern and rump

Of the doves, only the Woodpigeon has big white wing flashes, only the Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon has a white rump and long dark wing-bars, and only the Turtle Dove has a dark tail with a white terminal band.

Our final card features birds colloquially known as long-legged wading birds (not to be confused with the true ‘waders’). One side concentrates on the herons and egrets. The other has one heron, the Bittern, and a hotchpotch of lanky, long-necked birds.

Start with colour

Unlike many bird groups, colour is a crucial first ID step with these species. Great White and Little Egrets are wholly white in plumage, and Cattle Egret and Spoonbill are predominantly white birds. White Storks are also white, but have big black areas on the wings, which are immediately obvious. So, if it is white, you can narrow the bird down, dramatically, to one of a few species.

Size matters

These birds vary from the huge Crane and White Stork through the larger herons and Great White Egret, to relatively small birds, like Little and Cattle Egrets and Glossy Ibis. Compare with other nearby birds.

Flight style

All the herons nearly always fly with the neck folded up, whereas all the other species have the neck fully extended in flight. The Bittern, a heron, also folds the neck, but it has so much feathering it just looks thick-necked.

Apart from the ‘ears’, Long-eared Owls have orange eyes and often have orange facial discs

Stock Doves are subtle beauties of birds, with short wing-bars and a glorious splash of iridescence on the neck

The Turtle Dove has a unique Zebra-striped neck patch

The Great White Egret is very large, with a distinctive kink in the neck and usually a long ,orange-yellow bill

White Storks are unmistakable: huge, white and black, with long red bill and red legs

Cattle Egrets are chunky with a short, orange bill and some orange in the plumage

Little Egrets are slim, dark-billed, with black legs yet yellow footed