How to identify an AI bird photo? It is recommended to learn some bird guides first

With the emergence and rapid development of artificial intelligence, AI tools have also begun to enter the learning and life scenes of ordinary people and industry practitioners, and drawing and retouching technology is no problem. Beautiful scenery, portraits, anime cartoons... Open an AI painting software, enter a few keywords, and a lifelike picture will appear in an instant. So, can the birds drawn with AI tools be indistinguishable from the real thing, or just make a fool of themselves?

01 AI can’t draw a beautiful hand, so how about drawing a bird’s claw?

Just from the demand of bird drawing, AI drawing tools have greatly improved the output efficiency, and many bird drawings made by AI are very realistic in color, shape, etc. However, due to various problems in details, many people complain that "they can't stand the bird drawings made by AI"!

Image source: Generated by the author’s AI; reprinting may lead to copyright disputes

These lifelike pictures often have strange beaks, wings, tail feathers, toes and unnatural backgrounds, as well as unnatural sense of focus and texture, messy feathers, blocks of color, etc., and even mix the characteristics of different species together, which is ridiculous.

02You should at least know this about birds

This phenomenon has caused a lot of trouble for nature lovers and many practitioners related to it. Therefore, if you have some basic knowledge of bird morphology, you can make a preliminary identification of the bird pictures drawn by AI based on some characteristics.

(1) Bird Wing

For example, there are many different types of birds with different flying habits, so the shapes and sizes of bird wings also vary greatly. For example, the swift has long and pointed wings. When the wings are folded, the wing tips significantly exceed the tail end. When flying, it is as fast as an arrow and can fly for a long time without stopping.

The wings of birds of prey are broad and well-developed, which are suitable for gliding in the air using rising air currents.

The wings of birds such as quail and pheasant are relatively short and round, which are suitable for fast take-off and short-distance flight.

(2) Tail feathers

The shape of a bird's tail feathers also varies from species to species. If the tail feathers are equal in length and the ends form a straight line, it is called a flat tail; if the outer tail feathers are shorter than the central tail feathers, the tail can be rounded, convex, wedge-shaped or pointed, depending on the length difference; conversely, if the central tail feathers are shorter than the outer tail feathers, the tail can be concave, forked or clipped, depending on the depth of the concave.

In addition, many tail feathers have very special shapes, such as the outer tail feathers of the drongo, which curl upwards to form a peculiar "drongo" shape. The tip of the tail feather shaft of the needle-tailed swift protrudes like a needle, and when it perches, the needle-shaped tail feathers can help it support its weight. The tail feathers of the bird of paradise are also very peculiar, with only the shaft of the central tail feather remaining, which is extended like a thread.

The lyrebird living in Australia has 16 tail feathers. The outermost pair of tail feathers of the male bird is curved like a lyre, and the remaining 6 pairs of feathers are separated, like "strings". When courting, the tail feathers stand upright like a lyre, and they dance and sing, forming a beautiful and moving scene.

In addition, the long-tailed pheasant, golden pheasant, ring-necked pheasant, red-billed blue magpie, and longevity pheasant all have very long tail feathers. But the tail feathers of the quail are very short, and they are called "bald-tailed quail". The "tail feathers" of the peacock are actually a tail screen formed by the development of the upper tail coverts. Its real tail feathers are very short and hidden under the tail screen.

(3) Toes

As we all know, when AI is drawing portraits, it often fails in the details of the hands, drawing 6 or even 8 fingers. In fact, when it comes to drawing birds, unreliable jokes often happen. Here we need to do some necessary popular science about the toes of birds: Birds usually have four toes on their feet, three in front and one in the back. With their four toes, they can walk on the ground, grasp branches or climb cliffs, but the shape and function of the four toes are adapted to each other, and each has a different arrangement, which can be divided into the following categories:

Asymmetric toe feet (also known as normal feet): Among the four toes, three toes point forward and the big toe points backward, which is also the main feature of most birds.

Opposite toes: The second and third toes point forward, and the first and fourth toes point backward. Parrots, cuckoos, and woodpeckers usually have this toe type, which is suitable for grasping, and is helpful for holding on to branches and grabbing food and putting it into the mouth.

Heterodactyl feet: the third and fourth toes point forward, and the first and second toes point backward. Only trogons have this type of toes, which is different from other birds.

Semi-opposed toe: Similar to anisodactyl foot, but with the fourth toe twisted backwards, as in owls.

Syndactyly: Similar to anisodactyl foot, but the bases of the three forward toes are touching each other, so that the toes point forward, such as nighthawks and hornbills.

Front toe feet: All four toes point forward, like swifts. This special toe shape allows them to climb and grasp freely, but they are not good at walking on the ground, so they are also called "birds that cannot land."

Separated toe foot: three toes facing forward and one toe facing backward; the hind toe is the strongest, and the front toes are free of each other, such as larks and sparrows.

Syndactylic foot: three front toes and one back toe, the back toe is very weak, and the bases of the front three toes are connected, which is called syndactyly; most of the tarsus is covered by a single row of large rolled scales, like the broadbill.

In addition, waterfowl, wading birds and other birds also have webbed feet. Birds have claws at the end of their toes, and the length and shape of the claws vary from species to species.

(4) Beak

The beak of a bird is formed by the extension of the upper and lower jaws, and is covered with a hard keratinous sheath, forming a sharp cutting edge or hook, which serves as the bird's feeding organ. The shape of a bird's beak often varies depending on its diet. The beak of a carnivorous bird, such as a shrike, is sharp and hooked, which is convenient for tearing prey.

They use their beaks to feed on insects hiding in trees. Their beaks are wedge-shaped, strong and hard, making them convenient for digging through trees, such as woodpeckers.

The beaks of birds that eat grains or seeds are mostly short, thick and conical. For example, sparrows.

The crossbill's beak is crossed at the tip, allowing it to reach between the scales of pine cones and feed on the seeds inside.

The beak of a hummingbird is long, thin and tubular, suitable for sucking nectar.

In the diverse and complex world of birds, bird beaks are also full of miracles. The number of their "patterns" and the clever functions of their beaks are indeed "beyond the reach" of other animals.

Now looking back at the AI ​​bird's eye view above, it doesn't seem that difficult to identify, right?

03How to observe and identify birds accurately ?

As AI technology continues to improve and gradually learns and annotates based on human natural language descriptions, inaccuracies in some pictures have become difficult to identify. For those special users who need precise drawings, they must use professional bird atlases, such as the "China Bird Field Manual" and the "China Bird Observation Manual". For electronic atlases, you can also check the China Bird Watching Record Center: https://www.birdreport.cn/, etc.

"Today we cheer for Sun Wukong, only because the evil fog has returned." my country is one of the countries with the most bird resources in the world, and the rich bird resources are the precious natural heritage left to us by nature. It must be pointed out that if the pictures made by netizens for entertainment purposes are spread as real photos, their influence is still limited. However, if a few people use the banner of popular science to take the beautiful and interesting pictures output by AI as real photos to attract fans' attention, or even seek improper benefits, we need to be vigilant.

Note: The bird images listed in this article are all copyrighted images. Reprinting and using them may cause copyright disputes

Author: Li Xiangtao, researcher at the National Museum of Natural History, honorary executive director of the Chinese Ornithological Society

Produced by: Science Popularization China

Produced by: China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., China Science and Technology Publishing House (Beijing) Digital Media Co., Ltd.