ID Tips & tricks

Here are a few extra snippets of advice to help you to identify bathing birds in the field

More than one way to bathe

Feather care is very important, but bathing in water is not the only way birds do it. In addition to preening regularly, (mainly using the bill plus perhaps the feet), birds have a few other ways of looking after their feathers. These include dust baths (loved by sparrows, larks etc, like this Sky Lark, right), sun bathing (eg the Blackbird on the lawn, spreading its feathers) and even anting: ‘bathing’ in a mass of stinging ants or even picking them up in the bill and using the jets of acid to treat the plumage. Once you understand some of the antics that go on, it is a good start in identification.

THE CAUTIOUS APPROACH

One way to get a good view (which is important in identifcation) of any bird, but particularly shy ones, such as raptors (for example the Sparrowhawk, below), is to watch them come to bathe. Note that such birds are often extremely cautious coming down and putting themselves in such a vulnerable position as comes from immersion in water. So, they will often spend several cautious minutes checking carefully if the coast is clear.

Visit a bathing hotspot

Some sites are brilliant for watching bathing birds, and getting intimate close-ups. These may include local puddles or ditches, but also some places like in front of the freshwater hides at Titchwell RSPB, where wading birds like this Snipe (above) can bathe right in front of you.