All that Jizz.

 

One of the great buzz words for insiders of the birdwatching community is ‘Jizz’. So, what does that mean? When describing a bird seen briefly, it is often very useful to be able to sum its overall appearance or jizz, even if you didn’t get a handle on details such as precise colouration, etc. That great little book (!!) Ireland’s Garden Birds describes Jizz in the glossary as: ‘A combination of characteristics which identify a bird, but which may not be distinguished individually’.

It helps if you have a bit of experience, of course, but you can practice this on a few of the common garden visitors, it applies to all birds. A few examples: Siskins love to hang upside down on the feeders and folk are often not sure of identifying females, which are duller plumaged than the males: so if you give me a brief description that includes just: “ a small bird with finches beak, hanging upside down when on the side of the feeder, green and grey, streaky overall”.. upside down means Siskin to me.

Another couple of examples: “a plump bird, brown and with some streaks underneath, patrolling the lawn with short little runs, stopping and cocking its head to one side. Tail pumped up when it stops its run” … So, it’s not a Starling or Song Thrush, the runs, the head to the side (listening for prey under the surface) and the tail action all point to a female or young Blackbird, which are russet brown with a few streaks, which starts the confusion in the first place.

“A tiny bird, working its way along the Sycamore tree and then into the Spruce tree, seems to be feeding off and inspecting the underside of the leaves, needles and on bare twigs, very active and keeping company with a mixed flock of tits. Noticeably small and rotund, it may have had a bright pale slash of colour on the head and/or a wing bar,” That feeding action coupled with the tiny size says Goldcrest to me… our smallest European bird.
So, three results and not a whole lot of plumage described! No get even more expert and observe more detail: grab a decent pair of binoculars, get closer to the action