For the beginner it can be difficult to perform this
lookup step. The bird is a silhouette so many specific
details may not be readily visible. You may not have a
guidebook or a clue which family to begin with. Further,
most guidebooks have thousands of individual birds
illustrated—too many to simply look through all the
pages. Still, most people know more bird families than
they might realize. Almost everyone knows ducks, owls,
gulls, hawks, woodpeckers, herons, sparrows, crows,
terns, pelicans, wrens, blackbirds, vultures, turkeys, robins
and bluebirds. By assessing the size and shape of the bird
to be identified you can place them in one of these family
categories. Then you can examine the index to find that
bird in the guide or on the checklist. Once you find the
target bird in the book, you can examine the illustrations
of other birds in that section of the book—typically
other members of the same family. Since most books are
organized by family you may find the exact bird you are
looking for by browsing.
You will have to extend your list of families
however. On the Kiawah Checklist, for example, there
are 45 different families listed including sandpipers,
flycatchers, nightjars, vireos, nuthatches, gnatcatchers,
wood-warblers, finches and thrushes.