@Keefdreewill I actually could tell instantly because of the design. A lot of Digimon tended to have a consistently distinct design element. In this case, many bird-like Digimon tended to share a distinct head shape where the upper part of their face slightly juts out, and in addition many bird Digimon also tended to have a mask-like design element on them. Other examples being Garudamon, Kiwimon and of course Hououmon, also known as Phoenixmon has it too. There are exceptions of course such as Birdramon, but it still looks like a Digimon regardless.
As for Huanglongmon, it’s a little hard to tell. But the design elements that make up a Digimon are kind of still there. For one, a lot of Digimon that exists as beyond the Champion level tend to take on a sharp design. What do I mean by that? I mean that they tend to acquire a sort of distinctive characteristic that makes them stand out as a design, of course most wouldn’t know the name of more than a handful of Digimon, but they aren’t that hard to identify. In fact the more common known design elements of Digimon I believe are the guns and belts and the jeans on humanoid Digimon.