h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Identifying British Birds - Part 2 - A87916116
Author: Paigetheoracle - U15002949

This entry includes British birds of field, river and woodland. Most of these are small birds and excludes predatory birds that would also be found in these habitats, for reasons of clarity.

I hope Part I can be located - and that experts will come and comment.

Also, these entries would be great with pictures, hint...

You must be Joe King!

If you can't get pics, others will....

Also, Part I is now in Peer Review.

Ta! I will see about photos but the UK weather has started to turn back to normal, i.e. dull and overcast at best, throwing it down in bucket loads the rest of the time. In other words not a great period for outside photography - hence the typical artistic comments about 'light' in the UK (those winter migrants returning to The British Isles during the summer, are kindly asked to switch the lights back on, when coming back here).

I will go on here as I did with the first Entry of the series.

This Entry should have some kind of introduction to tell about which groups of birds this Entry is talking, just like it should have some kind of conclusion in the end. And headers over different sections, please.

Alwasys keep in mind that not all people will read all Entries and some will only read part 2 and 3. If possible each Entry should make sense standing alone, I think.

Also I think you should say for all birds where they actually live (fields/woodland etc) and not only some. Maybe if appropriate also start each paragraph with a general sentence about the birds this paragraph is about.

Will think about it. Clearer instructions than Part 1 criticism, so I can see where you are going with this. Hope to have a go at all three parts today on this basis but the dog has been sick again (two days in a row now), so this is preoccupying my actions for the day; normally the wife would go to the coast, to walk the dog first thing and I would get on with projects like this but obviously that isn't going to happen today as he is too ill to go anywhere

hope your dog is better soon

I agree with Tavaron here, too - this Entry would also benefit from headers to help the reader.

One point I spotted:

"The Dunnock is often considered by the public to be a sparrow [...] They resemble the Robin but it is easy to differentiate the two because the latter has a red breast and face. The Wren is another drab looking brown and grey chested bird but its upwardly raised tail makes it stand out from the other birds of this appearance."

It is very true that sparrows and dunnocks are often confused, but I don't think dunnocks resemble robins as they are thin-bodied whereas robins are rounder, like wrens - does this paragraph need tweaking?

Definitely. Also keep in mind that non-Europeans may never have seen a robin.

What we call a 'robin' in the US is a thrush with a violently orange shirt front.

Well... you should be happy your robins are no red-shirts.

May I slightly disagree with Sasha about Dunnocks and Robins? They are so similar, apart from the colouring, that some people assume that Dunnocks are female Robins. They have the typical, thin insect-catching beaks rather than the stubby seed-eating beaks of the Sparrows and their movements are very similar - it's only when you see them close together that you notice the slightly slimmer elongated body of the Dunnock.

That might be a good way to say that...

"some people assume that Dunnocks are female Robins"

Ah! I hadn't thought of it like that, because the beaks are the same type of shape - yes, that does clarify the statement in the Entry

Bird recognition is very subjective - my wife saw a bullfinch in the garden the other day and said "Look at that Parrot!"

Elektra's aunt, not a country person, referred to goldfinches as 'wild canaries'....

SashaQ, hmmm...robins and dunnocks, needing alteration? I'll think about it next tweak