When birding in rural areas, knowing the habitat that you are visiting, will greatly
assist you in identifying birds. Certain Cisticolas only occur in grassveld habitats
while others only occur in
woodland. Knowing which bird occur in which habitat will greatly assist you in
your quest to correctly identify a bird. Because habitat is such a valuable aid
all field guides indicate in the text what habitat a bird usually prefers.
Descriptions about how to distinguish between different habitats are also provided.
However when
identifying birds in your garden, habitat will not play that an important role -
as there is only one habitat - your garden! However the distribution maps in
your field guides will be of great assistance. When you have two possible birds
in your field guide that look very similar, you can use the distribution maps as
an aid by checking which of the two bird occurs in the area where your garden is
located. Although this method is not flawless (birds do have wings and can fly
to areas outside there normal distribution), it will be of great assistance and
in a few cases possibly the only way to distinguish between two species of birds.
A number of different bulbul species occur in South Africa. But if you are in Cape Town you
can be 99% sure that the only bulbul that will occur there will be the Cape Bulbul (Simon du Plessis).
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