Not to be semantically confused with : Bird's-Foot-Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), Bird's-Foot Clover (Trifolium ornithopodioides) or with their other species [all plants with similar names which all belonging to the same Pea Family (Fabaceae) as Bird's-foot].

No relation to : Bird's-foot Sedge (Carex ornithopoda) which is a Sedge, Bird's-Nest Orchid (Neottia nidus-avis) and orchid, Bird's-eye Primrose (Primula farinosa) a primula nor to Bird-in-a-Bush (Corydalis solida) a member of the Poppy Family.

With its small but part-coloured flowers, this is a plant that is easy to recognise, providing you can actually see the small flowers whilst standing.

Some similarities to : Orange Bird's-foot (Ornithopus pinnatus) which has flowers that are mostly deep yellow but with orange markings. They are more orange when still closed. At 50cm tall this has longer stems than Bird's-foot, but is still recumbent to ascending, with only 5-15 leaflets on a leaf and just 1 to 2 flowers in small 'bunches'. Orange Bird's-foot is a very rare native plant [RRR], occurring in the Channel Islands and Scilly, but naturalised now in East Gloucestershire.

Slight resemblance to : Two other rare but introduced and naturalised casuals occur, Yellow Serradella (Ornithopus compressus) which is yellow, and Serradella (Ornithopus sativus) which occur in one or two places in the far South of England. Bird's-foot is locally common and occurs on usually acidic dry or sandy or gravelly soils especially beside paths or tracks, forest tracks, heathlands or dunes, but usually avoiding alkaline soils. The basal rosettes of leaves hug the ground.