Little brown bird (LBB) or little brown job (LBJ) is an informal name used by
birdwatcher
Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...
s for any of the large number of species of small brown
passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...
birds, many of which are notoriously difficult to distinguish.
This is especially true for females, which lack much of the coloring present in males.
The name little brown bat is also applied to records in general observations of
microchiropteran species, many of which are indistinguishable by their greyish brown coloring.
See also
*
Damned yellow composite, a similar term for the numerous difficult-to-identify dandelion-like plants
*
Little brown mushroom
Mushroom hunting, mushrooming, mushroom picking, mushroom foraging, and similar terms describe the activity of gathering mushrooms in the wild, typically for culinary use. This practice is popular throughout most of Europe, Australia, Japan, ...
, a similar term for difficult-to-identify mushrooms
References
Birdwatching
Slang
{{Passerine-stub