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European robin
The orange-red face and breast reach almost to the bill on an adult. A young robin is mottled brown before it gains the orange. If a bird is tucked out of view, listen for a thin, wandering song with little pauses. Robins can sing through the colder months.
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Common blackbird
A male’s black plumage, orange-yellow bill, and matching eye ring make a useful combination. Females are brown and can show faint breast markings. If you hear a mellow, fluting phrase from a high perch, check for a blackbird before looking for the more insistent, repeated phrases of a song thrush.
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Eurasian blue tit
Look for a blue cap set in a mostly white face, with a dark line running through the eye. The chest is yellow, as on a great tit, but it lacks the great tit’s broad black belly stripe. Blue tits often work the outer twigs, picking at them from below as well as above.
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Great tit
Start with the black head and large white cheeks, then look for a black stripe down the yellow underside. A familiar song repeats two clear notes, often rendered as “teacher, teacher,” though the species has other songs. The head pattern is usually quicker than waiting to hear it.
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House sparrow
Check a hedge or roof edge for the source of a group’s short, repeated chirps. Males have a gray cap, chestnut coloring behind the eye, and a black bib. Females lack the bib and have a pale eyebrow, a useful clue when comparing one with a dunnock on the ground.
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Common starling
An adult may look black until sunlight shows its green and purple gloss. Pale dots stand out in fresh winter plumage, while a juvenile is far plainer and brown. Watch how the bird stands and walks on a lawn before relying on a song that can switch from whistles to rattles and imitations.
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European goldfinch
A flash of bright yellow across otherwise dark wings is enough to make a second look worthwhile. Adults also have a red face set between black and white patches. A young goldfinch lacks that red face at first, but it can still show the yellow wing patch.
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Eurasian wren
Look low for a tiny, warm brown bird with a fine bill and a tail often angled sharply upward. A wren can disappear into an ivy-covered fence or a pile of branches in seconds. Its surprisingly loud, fast song, punctuated by a trill, may reveal where to look.
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Eurasian chaffinch
The male’s blue-gray cap and pinkish chest are easy to pick out in spring. Two white wing bars help with a quieter-looking female as well as a bright male. Listen for a short run of descending notes that ends with a flourish.
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Dunnock
This hedge-edge bird has a slim bill and gray around the face and chest, with a streaked brown back. It often moves close to cover on the ground. Look at the bill and face if you’re deciding between a dunnock and a female house sparrow, whose bill is deeper and whose eyebrow is usually clearer.
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Common wood pigeon
A large pigeon with a white patch on each side of the neck is usually an adult woodpigeon. The broad white wing bands can still be visible in flight when the neck is hard to see. Its rounded, five-part coo differs once you know the collared dove’s three-part rhythm.
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Long-tailed tit
A long, narrow tail trails a small, round body with pink, white, and black plumage. Outside breeding season, little parties may pass through a garden in quick succession. If the first bird vanishes into a hedge, listen for thin contact calls and watch for the next one.
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Coal tit
A black cap and white cheeks look familiar after a great tit, but a pale patch at the back of the head gives the coal tit away. Look for two pale wing bars and more subdued underparts. It is especially worth checking near conifers.
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European greenfinch
A heavy seed-cracking bill gives the greenfinch a chunky head. Look for yellow along the folded wing, especially on a gray-green bird that seems too subdued for its name. A male may give away its perch with a long, nasal wheeze among the shorter calls.
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Eurasian collared dove
This slim, pale dove has a black half collar on the back of an adult’s neck. A young bird may lack it, so the delicate build and the lack of a broad white wing band are useful alongside the color. The familiar coo usually comes in sets of three.
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Song thrush
Look for dark, arrowhead-shaped markings on a buff or cream breast. A singing bird often repeats a short phrase a few times before switching to a different one. That pattern helps separate it from a blackbird even when the treetop perch hides the markings.
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Eurasian magpie
A long dark tail and bold black-and-white plumage make a magpie easy to follow across a lawn or between rooflines. In good light, blue or green gloss can appear in the wings and tail. A quick series of hard rattling notes often gives away an unseen bird.
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Western jackdaw
A small crow with a gray nape and pale eyes is likely to be a jackdaw, especially if a second bird is nearby. The eyes can be hard to see against the light, so listen for a clipped, hard “tchack.”
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