{"id":3508,"date":"2019-10-04T12:25:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T16:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/k12\/?p=3508"},"modified":"2023-10-19T17:45:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T21:45:43","slug":"identifying-black-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/k12\/identifying-black-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Identifying Black Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kids<\/p>\n

Whether in a horror movie, or perched outside your house you\u2019ve probably seen an all-black bird. Could you tell what kind of bird it was: crow, raven, grackle, starling, cowbird?<\/p>\n

With a quick search and focused observation techniques, you can develop the bird identification skills necessary to distinguish individual species. While there are many different species of black birds, we will focus on the most common ones, the American Crow, Common Raven, European Starling, Common Grackle, and Brown-headed Cowbird.<\/p>\n

When trying to identify birds, there are four main concepts to keep in mind: size and shape, behavior, color pattern, and habitat. Watch the Cornell Lab of Ornithology\u2019s video series \u201cInside Birding<\/a>\u201d<\/strong> for more information on these concepts.<\/p>\n

Size and Shape<\/h3>\n
\"Image

Here\u2019s a little cheat sheet of the relative sizes of these black birds.<\/p><\/div>\n

Your initial impulse may be to identify birds based on their unique plumage details. However, a bird is often too distant or silhouetted to accurately make out any details. It\u2019s best to observe the bird\u2019s size and shape first. Rule out certain species by comparing the size of the bird in question to the size of birds you\u2019re already familiar with.<\/p>\n

For example, if you\u2019re trying to identify a Common Grackle, observe that it\u2019s larger than a Northern Cardinal and about the same size as (or maybe slightly smaller than) a Blue Jay. Thus, we know that this bird cannot be a crow or a raven since they are both much larger than a Blue Jay. We also know that this bird is probably not a Brown-headed Cowbird or a European Starling since both of those birds are generally smaller than Northern Cardinals. It\u2019s also helpful to observe the size and length of the tail or beak<\/p>\n\n\t\t