Silhouette Spotter Game
At dusk there are no colours to go on, only a bird's shape and the way it moves. Birders learn to name a bird from that alone, and call the skill GISS, for general impression of size and shape. Each of the eleven kinds in this game has one rule to remember, such as a vulture's shallow V or a heron's tucked neck, and a notebook collects the outlines you have named.
Birds cross a dusk sky as dark shapes. Catch one in your binoculars and name its kind from its outline before the light goes.
How to play
- Birds cross the dusk sky as black outlines.
- Move the binoculars onto one. Drag or tap with a finger, move the mouse, or press Tab or the arrow keys to jump from bird to bird.
- Hold it in the lens and it comes into focus. Four names appear round the rim.
- Name its kind from its shape and the way it flies. Tap a name, or press 1 to 4.
- The lens shows the kind's rule, and a right name puts its outline in your notebook.
The light fades as the sky darkens, and the game ends at dark. Every bird is drawn the same size, since size cannot be judged against an empty sky. While a game runs, Tab moves the binoculars, not the page's focus. Escape or Space pauses.
Scoring
- A right name scores 100 points, and up to 50 more the sooner you give it.
- A right name also brings back a little light.
- A wrong name scores nothing and costs 8 seconds of light.
- All 11 kinds in the notebook score 500 more.
Your five best scores are saved in this browser, with the kinds each game spotted. In practice the light never fades and the game never ends on its own. End it from the pause screen. Practice games are not saved.
The eleven kinds
Each outline is drawn after one common North American bird, and each kind has the one rule that names it in flight.
- Hawk (Red-tailed Hawk): Broad wings and a short, wide tail
- Falcon (Peregrine Falcon): Long pointed wings and a long tail
- Vulture (Turkey Vulture): Wings held in a shallow V, rocking from side to side
- Gull (Ring-billed Gull): Long narrow wings bent at the wrist
- Swallow (Barn Swallow): Slim pointed wings and a forked tail
- Heron (Great Blue Heron): Neck drawn back and legs trailing past the tail
- Woodpecker (Northern Flicker): A flight that rises and dips
- Duck (Mallard): Neck stretched straight out and fast wingbeats
- Owl (Barred Owl): A big round head and broad rounded wings
- Hummingbird (Ruby-throated Hummingbird): Tiny, hovering on blurred wings
- Crow (American Crow): Fingered wingtips and a fan-shaped tail
Some birds of these kinds break their rule, so they are left out. The Black Vulture soars with its wings held flat, not in a V, and the hawks of the woods, such as Cooper's Hawk, have a long tail.
Read about what a mnemonic is, or try our other free memory games.
