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Please help ID these birds from Overpeck in NJ.

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2. 

3. 

4.  All black head

5. 

Thanks, Tom

1, 2 - gadwall

3 - double crested cormorant

4 - canada geese

5 - great blue heron

We love IDing stuff here, and I don't want to sound like a jerk, but you could ID alot of these birds on your own with any decent field guide. Do you have a field guide for birds?

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Life List: 413
Last Added: Swainson's Hawk

I agree with Natureboy's ID's.

TheGrine - does it really matter? The poster me be just starting out and wants to confirm everything. I know I would have loved to have known about this forum when I first started. I had tons of guides but it doesn't matter how many guides one has, it's the experience that really makes the difference. 

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/featherbrain1223/

I agree - For the first 6 months I was into birding, before I knew about this forum, I ID'd all my birds on my own, and I didn't even have a computer at home to do research; I had to use my guide books and the computer at work on my lunch/breaks.  The hardest one EVER was a Northern Rough-winged Swallow -- I must have gone through numerous books, internet sites, etc. before I finally found a photograph that showed this bird the way I shot him.  All the other photos I looked at of NRWS didn't look the same to me.

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Life List: 139
Latest: Cedar Waxwing!!!!!!!

I don't want to put words in TheGrine's mouth (or fingers, as it were), but I don't think he was faulting the original poster for asking for help with bird identifications.  I think he was just noting that--while we all have trouble with ducks, shorebirds, and sparrows from time to time--some of these birds (Canada goose and great blue heron in particular) would be pretty easy to find and quickly I.D. by looking through the first several pages of pretty much any field guide.  I think if the original poster enjoys looking at birds and being told what they are by others on the internet, that's one thing, and I'm sure that all of us here are totally happy helping.  But if the he/she is interested in actively birding as a hobby, I think that he/she would really enjoy and benefit from identifying at least some birds on his/her own with the use of a field guide.

Well, I have the Audubon Handbook: How To Identify Birds, by J. Farrand.  Does that qualify?

Unfortunately, my ID skills are not very good.  I don't find the book very helpful.

[...]

What guide do you suggest?

I know of that book, and unless I'm mistaken, it's a useful tool, but not really a field guide.  I recommend the Sibley Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, the one with the goldfinch on the cover (looks like this: http://www.birdcountry.us/images/Sibley%20-%20Eastern%20US.jpg) .  It's a small, relatively weather resistant book, and you can take it out into the field with you so that after you've observed a bird you're not sure of, you can have it at hand to scan through and hopefully identify your bird.  I find it to be the least complicated, easiest to use of all the modern field guides, and the artwork is not only beautiful, but very representative of how the birds actually look "in person."  The book also shows the various plumages of many birds (including cormorants, which do vary quite a bit depending on age and time of year) without being too overwhelming for a beginner (in my opinion). I think you'll be amazed at how the world of bird identification opens up to you once you've started using a proper field guide.

EDIT:  By all means though, keep posting here, especially as you're starting out!  A field guide will help you immeasurably, but there's also no substitute for advice and help from great birders like the many on this site.

Thanks, Matty, for better explaining my rationale. As he much better put it, we are happy to ID stuff for you, but if you want to bird you'll never get any better without starting to ID stuff on your own. I also recommend Sibley's Guide to Birds of Eastern North America as a great guide that will be much more useful to you so you start IDing birds on your own. And if you're still not sure, we all encourage you to keep posting and also post your thoughts on what a bird is and why, so we can explain why you're right or wrong.

Hope this helps!

 And to Featherbrain: I completely agree, the experience DOES make the difference. And some of the best experience in birding is attained through trying to ID stuff on your own.

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Life List: 413
Last Added: Swainson's Hawk

good advice, guys, except for the encouragement to get an eastern guide.  even if one lives in the eastern part of the country, its still good to have a guide with all north American birds just in case a vagrant pops up.  also, it gives the user a better and more inclusive representation of families and similar sp. that may help in studying the birds that one may encounter.  what if a persone encounters GC flycatchers in gorgia during the summer, and takes a trip to S. California in July.  they may tag all the yellow bellied flycatchers with brown backs and gray heads as GC flycatchers.  this is, in my opinion, where having some (even if its limited) knowledge of birds that are not in your area is an advantage and useful.  i'll stick with recommending the Sibley's, but get the one for the whole of North America.  if you have to take it afield, get a back pack and it will not be an issue.

natureboy:

good advice, guys, except for the encouragement to get an eastern guide.  even if one lives in the eastern part of the country, its still good to have a guide with all north American birds just in case a vagrant pops up.  also, it gives the user a better and more inclusive representation of families and similar sp. that may help in studying the birds that one may encounter.  what if a persone encounters GC flycatchers in gorgia during the summer, and takes a trip to S. California in July.  they may tag all the yellow bellied flycatchers with brown backs and gray heads as GC flycatchers.  this is, in my opinion, where having some (even if its limited) knowledge of birds that are not in your area is an advantage and useful.  i'll stick with recommending the Sibley's, but get the one for the whole of North America.  if you have to take it afield, get a back pack and it will not be an issue.

I always recommend the Eastern guide mostly so as not to overwhelm a beginning birder, as the guide to the whole of the U.S. is very encompassing and illustration-heavy.  Eastern Sibley shows the birds that might have any history of vagrancy towards the Eastern U.S. so vagrants shouldn't be a problem, and if the birder travels to the Western U.S. they can get the Western guide, or the whole U.S. guide.  I also personally find the Eastern guide to be structured in a way that makes it more conducive to quick ID's anyway.  I would certainly recommend eventually getting the U.S. guide to keep at home or maybe in the car, but I think the smaller Eastern guide would be indispensable to and certainly more practical for the beginning birder to actually take into the field with them. 

well, matty you don't have to yell..........kidding.  touche'

natureboy:

well, matty you don't have to yell..........kidding.  touche'

 

Haha, I didn't meant to sound heavy-handed, and if I did, I apologize.  I got where you were coming from too.  I guess field guides can be a surprisingly personal thing sometimes.

As for IDs...in my opinion the best combo is the Kaufman field guide to North American Birds used in unison with the Sibley guide to birds. Sometimes you need a photograph because the drawings don't look like what you saw, and vice versa. The numerous views from Sibley's guide are fantastic, and I've definitley found Kaufman to have the very best ranges, as well as excellent descriptions of the birds.

if you want to talk about a tandem one-two-punch for IDing birds, this is what i do.  i use the National Wildlife Federation's, Field Guide to North American Birds for a photo reference, and sibley's guide (the one for the entire country) for a drawing reference.  i find the paintings are good for seeing textbook markings personofied and located on the birds in the exact location where they are supposed to be.  i've said it before and i'll say it again.  a guide with photos and a guide with drawings will be the best way to ID birds when you need to identify one.  even though i have ~ 10 guides, including ones for hawks, La birds, drawings, photos, paintings, ect.  this is the route (NWF & Sibley's) i would take to get started.