curly / quilted / flamed maple question

[gilles]

A question for those of you that harvest your own maple wood...
Is there a way to identify curly, quilted, birds eye or flamed maple before sawing the wood?
Are there identifiers on the log itself?
Thanks.

[John Parchem]

From what I understand if you really know what you are looking for it is possible to make a good guess. But without experience the differences are subtle. I generally know because I buy sets labeled as curly, quilted, birds eye or flamed maple.

[Herman]

Somewhere I read quote of a logger, who said that birdeye maple is mostly found in trees that have a lot of dividing branches on low side of the trunk. fwiw.