Bird Body Parts

• Birders become familiar with the size and shape of a bird's head, wings, underbelly, rump and tail, and many of these main body parts are further divided up into smaller units. Plus, noting the coloration of each body part is essential in birding identification.
  
  

Determining Habitats

• Knowing where a bird lives is indispensable in helping to identify it, states the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website. Whether a bird lives by the seashore, in an open field, deep inside woodlands and forests, marshy areas or in cities near humans makes a difference in pinpointing what type of bird it is.
  
  

Using a Field Guide

• Informative field guides contain detailed descriptions of birds--usually accompanied by photographs or illustrations--along with "roadside" silhouettes. Field guides indicate field markers--bars on wings, crests or eye masks, for instance--to help birders quickly identify bird species.
  
  

Listen and Learn

• Listening vigilantly for unique bird songs and following the sound of the song until the bird is located is an important step to bird identification, according to Birding.com. Many birds might be hard to spot and identify without following this song-trail.