Lookalikes Game

Some birds look so alike that every new birder mixes them up. Each pair in this game has one mark that field guides agree on, such as the length of the bill or the shape of the tail. Two similar things are easiest to remember as one thing plus the detail that sets them apart, so the game has you find that detail yourself, and then checks that it stuck by showing single birds with no partner to compare.

How to play

1. Two birds that look alike stand side by side, one facing the other, with their names under them.
2. Numbered rings mark parts of each bird, and a part has the same number on both. Tap the part that tells them apart, on either bird, or press its number, before the bar runs out.
3. A wrong part costs two seconds and lights the right one with its mark. Tap it to go on.
4. After the four pairs, single birds come back one at a time. Name each by its mark.
5. A bar that runs out and a wrong name are misses. Three misses end the game. Each round the bars are shorter, and the pairs you missed come first.

On a keyboard, press a ring's number to pick a part, and 1 or the left arrow and 2 or the right arrow to pick a name. Space or Escape pauses.

Scoring

• The right part at the first tap scores 100 points.
• A single bird named right scores 100 points.
• Either one scores up to 50 points more for the time left on the bar.
• The right part after a wrong one scores nothing.
• Practice counts no misses and saves no scores, so you can compare the pairs at your own pace.

Your five best scores are saved in this browser only.

The four pairs

• Downy and Hairy Woodpecker: the Downy's bill is much shorter than its head, and the Hairy's about as long.
• Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawk: Cooper's tail tip is rounded with a broad white band, and the Sharp-shinned's square with a thin one.
• House and Purple Finch: the male House Finch has brown-streaked flanks, and the male Purple Finch a raspberry wash with no brown streaks.
• American Crow and Common Raven: the crow's tail is fan-shaped, and the raven's wedge-shaped.

Size is left out, since a large female Sharp-shinned Hawk is close to a small male Cooper's and a bird seen alone gives no scale, so both birds of a pair are drawn the same size. So are voice and the female finches, which are brown and streaked in both species. A hawk's tail can mislead when it is spread, so the hawks are drawn with their tails closed.

For another way to learn birds, try Dawn Chorus, which teaches the songs of common birds with the phrases birders use to remember them.

For more ways to remember what you learn, see our list of memory techniques, or try our other free memory games.