LoreHow to tell similar birds apart
Compare look-alike birds methodically. Choose two candidate species, inspect the same features and check your answer on another photograph.
Choose your practice guideExplore birds by regionMake the comparison small
Choose two species you actually confuse rather than trying to learn a whole family at once. Use a regional guide to check that the pair is relevant to your location or trip. Similar common names do not necessarily mean similar appearance, and familiar-looking birds abroad may belong to different species.
Compare like with like
Inspect the bill on both birds, then the head, wings and tail. Use photographs with a similar angle where you can. Do not compare an adult in one plumage with an unlabelled young bird and assume every difference is a species difference.
Write down one difference and one shared feature
For Blue Tit and Great Tit, yellow underparts are shared and are not enough to separate them. The adult head patterns are more useful. This European pair is one example; apply the same comparison process to the birds in your own region. Follow the linked Blue Tit or Great Tit guide for photographs.
Check what went wrong
After a wrong answer, ask whether you missed a visible clue or whether the photograph hid it. Then try another view of the pair. In Lore, Spot the difference offers a route into comparison practice. Outside the game, keep an identification tentative when the decisive details are not visible.