1. How to identify Warblers
Most warblers have colorful, distinctive plumage that can be easy to identify by different field marks. When watching warblers, look for these characteristics...
Color: Is there yellow, red, blue, black, gray, brown or orange on the bird? Where is the color brightest on the bird’s body?
Head: What markings are visible on the head? Is there an eye ring, brow line or cheek patch? Is the chin or throat colored or streaked? Is there a visible cap or color difference on the nape?
Bill: Is the bill delicate or bulky? Are both mandibles the same color? How thick or thin is the bill?
Chest: What color is the chest, and does it show streaks, spots or a color wash? Are the chest and the throat the same color?
Flanks: Is there a color wash along the bird’s sides or flanks? Are they spotted, streaked or striped?

2. More info on identify warblers
Mantle: Is the mantle the same color as the wings or head? Does it show any streaks or spots?
Wings: What color are the wings? Do they show any spots, edging, bars or patches?
Tail: How long is the tail? Does it show any color patches or outer tail feather colors? Are the undertail coverts or rump a different color? Is there a notch at the end of the tail?
Legs: Are the legs pale or dark?
It is possible to identify many species of warbler by visual clues alone, provided there is a good enough view of the bird to note its distinguishing marks. With only a brief glimpse, however, it may be necessary to take other factors into consideration when identifying the bird.

3. Other Ways to Identify Warblers
In addition to visual clues, a warbler’s behavior and song can help to identify its species.
Song and Sounds: Many warblers have distinctive songs, even though most don’t actually have a warbling quality. Learning how to bird by ear can help birders distinguish different species of warblers, even without the best views.
Range and Habitat: While many warbler species have overlapping ranges, using geographic clues can be a good way to narrow down exact species. Noting habitat is also useful – some warblers prefer moist regions, while others are found in drier areas.
Activity Height: Because all warblers eat insects, these birds have evolved to feed at different heights to accommodate many species’ needs. Note where in the brush and trees these birds appear most often and use that information to narrow down which species they could be. Warblers that prefer to feed at the tops of trees, for example, will rarely be found at the lowest heights, while warblers that feed on the ground are rarely found very high in trees.
Migration Period: While spring is the height of warbler season for many birders, different warblers migrate at different times. Check with regional birding groups to learn which warblers migrate early or late, and use that information to help determine exact identities.
Identifying warblers can be tricky, but it is also rewarding when birders spot many different species of these colorful birds. With care and patience, birders can feel confident in each warbler they see.

4. Birdist Rule #41: Identify Your First Warbler
Spring migration is a birder’s Christmas Morning. It’s a birder’s Happy Hour after work on a Friday. It’s a birder’s Embrace with Loved Ones in the Airport After a Long Journey. The wait is over and we can stop pretending we actually enjoy standing in the freezing wind looking at gulls. As you read this, millions of birds are winging their little bodies north from the tropics, and for many American birders, the most yearned-for of these birds are the warblers.
Warblers are the gems of American birdlife. Unlike warblers in the rest of the world, which are mostly brown and boring-looking (and not actually closely related to our local birds), our New World warblers, or wood warblers, are tiny bursts of color. Bright yellows! Oranges! Greens and blues! Each of the 50-or-so species regularly found in the U.S. has its own color scheme, vivid and delicately patterned, like a fluttering Easter egg.
They’ve been away because they’re insect eaters, and the States aren’t really where you want to be if you’re looking for insects in December. Some warblers will spend the winter in the southern U.S., but most will be farther south, in Mexico and Central America, the Caribbean, or even South America. Then, over the course of just a couple weeks, they flood back, some species headed as far as northern Canada.
Will you be ready?

5. 5 Tips For Spring Warbler Watching
Study habitat clues: During migration, many songbirds aren’t as finicky about their habitat preferences as they are when they’re breeding. For some birds, any place with available food and shelter will do for a pit stop during spring migration. Take the Blackpoll Warbler, which breeds strictly in spruce-fir forests but during migration can be found in a cluster of willows or in a small patch of cottonwoods. Other birds stick to their favorite habitats. Common Yellowthroats always prefer low wet areas, and Cape May Warblers maintain their strong preference for spruces.
Think big and small: When plotting your spring bird watching, consider both broad habitats and microhabitats. Broad swaths of forested of land, such as those found in the mountains or in river valleys, can be fantastic during migration, because they provide large areas of great habitat to support many hungry migrants. On the other hand, a microhabitat is an anomaly on the landscape that will suck in migrating birds crossing a big area devoid of safe places to stop, rest, and eat. It could be an isolated patch of trees on the plains of Colorado or a tree-studded island in Lake Superior. City parks can be incredible spots for finding warblers, because they may only have a small patch of trees where the birds can land.
Head for the hills: Elevated areas often draw large concentrations of birds, because they’re closer to the cruising altitude of migratory birds, and they tend to be the first sites warblers land when they drop down from nighttime migration. A park at the top of a hill in a city, such as Garret Mountain Reservation on the outskirts of New York City or Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, can be a fantastic place to find warblers.
Watch the weather: Picking the right day, with the right weather conditions, can make all the difference in what you see. In the spring, warblers move on winds blowing from the south. South winds help push migrants toward their northern breeding grounds, which allows the birds to expend less energy. But for a bird watcher, sustained south winds may cause birds to fly right over without stopping in your neighborhood. Watch your local forecasts for storms that force migrating birds out of the air and down to patches of habitat. The largest concentrations of birds and fallouts generally occur when south winds are met by some change in the weather—rain, snow, or a quick shift in wind direction. Even a passing line of local thunderstorms can leave an astonishing array of avian gems in your local park. Check quickly, though, because the birds will often depart the next night.
Use your ears: As warblers push north on their mad dash to their breeding grounds, the frequency of their singing and level of intensity increases. Listening for bird songs and short call notes can be a great way to find an unexpected bird. You don’t need to be an expert at birding by ear. Simply listen and try to track down any songster uttering an unusual vocalization. You might just find that what you thought was a variation of a Black-and- white Warbler’s squeaky-wheel song is actually a Bay-breasted Warbler.
If you’re not quite sure which migrants are arriving where or when, use the bar charts (under the “Explore Data” tab) on eBird.org. Select your state and county, then click on the month at the top of the bar chart, and you can see how frequently each species occurs in your area, down to the week. You can also check BirdCast for realtime bird forecasts that track the waves of migrants moving north across the continent. Armed with the latest intelligence on bird movements, and a plan for finding your local migrant bird hotspots, you just might have your best spring birdwatching season ever.

6. How to identify hawks and other raptors
First, break them down into groups. Then you can start picking out the finer details, like size and flight.
Birders trained to ID birds by their plumage are typically mystified by their first hawk-watching experience—from a distance, raptors may be near impossible to tell apart. Focus on the traits you can make out: size, shape, overall color or tone, and the manner and cadence of the bird’s wing
beats.
My advice: Don’t be intimidated, but don’t be dismissive either. If you want to play in the hawkwatching arena, you’re going to have to rethink your concept of a field mark. Distant IDs aren’t
made instantly—they’re built, by piecing together multiple clues that favor one species over another.

7. Size and Shape
Most birds of prey fall into four major categories. (Northern Harrier, Osprey, and kites are a few exceptions.) These are the core attributes for each:
Buteos are the large, broad-winged, short-tailed lugs with spare and labored wing beats.
Accipiters are small, narrow-tailed forest dwellers with short, rapid, bursting flaps, punctuated
by a glide.
Falcons are slender- and pointy-winged speedsters with steadier wing flaps.
Big Black Birds (eagles and vultures) are the super-size, darker-plumed titans that make spare use of their wings.

8. Complexion
Once you've sorted your groups, it's time to narrow down the candidate species. Look for specific features—though fine distinctions in plumage might still be hard to pin down. For instance, the
signature double ‘stache on an American Kestrel’s face may not be so obvious, so rely on its
overall paleness to help distinguish it from the slightly larger and darker female and juvenile Merlin

9. See some raptors
Raptors are on the move. Now is a great time to get out and see the birds of prey as they migrate south for the winter (click here for a list of 10 awesome places to watch the spectacle).
Seeing the birds on the wing is thrilling— particularly when there are large numbers of them—but it can also be frustrating to try and identify them at various angles and distances.
The challenge: Identify and age these common raptors. Some species appear more than once. Scroll down for a list of all of the species shown, and keep going for the answers.

10. Interesting Challenge

11. Answers
1. Sharp-shinned Hawk, immature: Note short, stocky wings and body, long slim tail that is short for an accipiter, and small head. Plumage is difficult to see on distant birds, but 1st-years lack a rufous tone underneath.
2. Bald Eagle: Very distinct white heads and tails and dark overall. Very large with long, broad wings and yellow legs and bill.
3. American Kestrel: Note pale underside with orangey chest, black spots on belly two black “sideburns” on head, and blue upperwing coverts, orange tail with black tip.
4. Northern Harrier: Very distinct brilliant white underside with a black border on flight feathers. Note long, slim wings and tail, and small head.
5. American Kestrel: Note pale underside with orangey chest, black spots on belly two black “sideburns” on head, and blue upperwing coverts, orange tail with black tip.
6. Turkey Vulture: Blackish overall; reddish head can be difficult to see at a distance but white bill usually glows. Note long, broad, squared-off wings, broad tail, and modified dihedral when gliding.
7. Sharp-shinned Hawk, adult: Note short, stocky wings and body, long slim tail that is short for an accipiter, and small head.
8. Broad-winged Hawk, immature: Stocky pointed wings, large head, and short, narrow tail. Pale underside with dark streaking on sides of breast, and indistinct tail pattern with darker tip denote 1st-year. Some (like this bird) have streaks on belly similar to red-tailed.
9. Red-shouldered Hawk, adult: Note somewhat stocky squared-off wings with translucent “commas” along the primaries. Adults have bold black and white bands on wings and tail and a warm reddish underside.
10. Red-shouldered Hawk, immature: Note somewhat stocky squared-off wings with translucent “commas” along the primaries. Pale underside with buffy underwing coverts, and dark, evenly spaced streaking on body denote 1st-year.
11. Northern Harrier: Very distinct brilliant white underside with a black border on flight feathers. Note long, slim wings and tail, and small head.
12. Merlin, adult: Merlin has stockier, more sharply pointed wings, broader, shorter tail, and is “chesty” compared with kestrel. Juvenile and adult female are pale below with heavy, dark streaking, heavily “checkered” underwings, and distinct tail bands. 
13. Northern Harrier, immature: Pale underneath mostly brown flight feathers. Note long, narrow wings and tail (showing bands when spread). Head is small with owl-like facial disc.
14. Red-tailed Hawk: Quintessential broad-winged, short-tailed buteo shape. Plumage is pale underneath with dark patagial bars and bellyband. 
15. Cooper’s Hawk, immature: Pale underneath with dark streaks throughout underbody, and brown head denote 1st-year. Note long wings for an accipiter, large head, and long tail with white tip.
16. Cooper’s Hawk, immature: Pale underneath with dark streaks throughout underbody, and brown head denote 1st-year. Note long wings for an accipiter, large head, and long tail with white tip.
17. Peregrine Falcon, adult: Pale underneath with heavily streaked body, heavily “checkered” underwings, and dark head. Note very long, pointed wings, heavy body, and broad tail and head. Wingtips are less sharply pointed in a full soar.
18. Osprey: Note the dark stripe through the eye, long, dark brown wings, white underside, and a black bill with sharp hook.
19. Sharp-shinned Hawk, adult: Note short, stocky wings and body, long slim tail that is short for an accipiter, and small head.