Answers & solutions

Check your answers against these explanations. Oh, and give yourself a bonus point if you got the ‘extra’ species with Bird 2

BIRD 2

Bonus points (purely theoretical!) are on offer for this one, as there are two birds in the photograph, and even a glance would tell you that these are different species here. But the main bather is the bird in the foreground. It is basically a black-and-white bird, with (from what we can see) blackish upperparts and pure white underparts, apart from a black breast band. A closer look reveals that there are dark green tones in the upperparts (mantle and wings). Combined with the face patterns, this bird is unmistakably a Lapwing. The bird behind, also a wader, has long yellow legs, buffish plumage, relatively small head and short straight bill of a juvenile Ruff, one of the most frequently confused wader species.

Key features

Front bird is pied

Green in upperparts, black breast band, complex face pattern

Rear bird is brown, buff and brown

Short bill, long, yellowish legs, buffy plumage

BIRD 1

There really is not much to look at in this all-action shot, as the bird is almost completely masked by water spray. One thing that is strictly circumstantial is that the surrounding water has ripples and reflections, suggesting that it is more than a shallow puddle; so maybe this is a bird which is comfortable in open water – perhaps it is a waterbird. What we can see of the bird appears plump bodied with a smallish head. And everything looks black except for the bill. This is short and peg-like and ivory-white. And this white bill is continuous with an extra bit, which looks like a facial shield. All this is pointing to it being the only British bird which is all black(ish) with a white bill and frontal shield, which is the Coot.

Key features

Apparently all black plumage

Looks like a ‘plump’ body and smallish head

Circumstantial evidence of bird being surrounded by water

n Unique ivory-white bill and ‘shield’

BIRD 3

Oh dear, here is another bird obscured by water and clearly taken with a low enough shutter speed to be a bit blurry. The tail end is on the left and the tail looks to be all blue. So, the head is on the right, and looks very large relative to the rest of the bird; implying that this is a very small bird (following the general rule that relative head size reduces with size). The head appears white, but there is a black line through the middle of the white, and there is a bit of the same blue as the tail on the ‘top’ edge. The rest of the bird is a blurry mix of green, yellow and perhaps a little blue. There is really only one little bird which can show this mix of colours: this is a Blue Tit. Even small birds like this need to seek out shallow puddles, ditches etc., in which to bathe.

Key features

All blue tail

Green/yellow (and blue) body

Relatively large head

White face, with black line across and some blue on head