What kind of Bird?

[teal101]

Not to be a sticker in anyone's ass bust isn't it better to know the birds before entering the field?

Granted he didn't shoot it and I would assume wouldn't shoot one if he didn't know what it was.

the last part of what you said is the important part. if we don't help out the new hunters, whether or not this guy is a new hunter, we're all screwed.
somebody helped you i bet, right?

Yep my dad bought me an ID book and I learned all the birds.  The Lemaster method book.  \t has all the different bills in the front arranged by size.  Then it has every north American duck and goose with closeups of wings to show speculum for a good ID on the wing.  It also shows the profile in flight when they are blacked out to help better ID.

http://www.amazon.com/Waterfowl-Identification-Lemaster-Method-Richard/dp/0811729826

But the only reason my dad bought the book was so I could ID em and tell him to shoot or not

[sisu]

Keep posting and asking for advice or pointers. Any hunter that would give away "their" best spot is an idiot in my opinion, but remember all best spots were found by someone and will be found by another and they are not "yours" unless that secret spot is on your titled property. 

[DOUBLELUNG]

But the only reason my dad bought the book was so I could ID em and tell him to shoot or not

That brought back a fun memory.  A buddy and I had hiked quite a ways in with 2 dekes each and a 5 gallon bucket.  The buckets were to sit on in the flooded salt cedars, and this was back in the point system days.  We put the dekes in a little puddle of open water in the salt cedars.  It was his first year duck hunting, so I was calling out the id before each shot.  We'd killed several of a real mixed bag, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a pair of pintails crossing right to left at about 20 yards.  I didn't say a word, just pulled up and folded the drake right over the dekes.  Steve just looked at me wide eyed, then said "what was that?" when I said "bull pintail", he looked just like I'd broken his favorite toy.  I can still get a rise out of him 12 years later with that story.

[teal101]

HAHAHAHA pays to learn to ID em!

[steeleywhopper]

If I don't ever shoot them, then I don't care what there called. I don't shoot "black and white ducks" ever, and thats what I call them. Mallards, widgeon, pintails, and teal for this guy. I have been waterfowl hunting for 23years and have never had the need to know the name of anything I don't plan on shooting or eating. Give the guy a break

[Curly]

 

Exactly the same thing I was thinking.

[Opportunist]

  If it isn't a mallard, pintail, widgeon or teal it's a diver duck or a *censored*bird (which is what my dad called them) I thought it was a bluebill at first. I guess I'm an incompetent duckhunter, oh well.

[ghgetter]

I may be way off base here but bird id is more to me than knowing what birds I should kill for the taste. Bird id is me becoming the best duck hunter I can be. I dont want to take a new hunter into the blind and have a bird swing by us (whether we shoot it or not) and not be able to tell them what kind of duck it was. I agree that killing divers isnt a priority for me but being able to tell what every bird looks like on the wing is....just my two cents.