birds from my balcony

[HokkaidoStu]

Unfortunately gardens are rare here in Japan but at least I have a balcony. I get banished there when I smoke and have seen some pretty good birds as a result. Yesterday I got a adult White Tailed Eagle.......
What`s the best or most unusual bird other forum users (preferably city-dwellers) have seen from their window? I`ve also managed Night Heron, Peregrine and Oriental Reed Warbler.........

[IanF]

Well for me, living on a housing estate, albeit the countryside not far away, the most unusual bird to get in the garden was a Grey Heron. It's size made it look incongruous in such a small garden, especially as we have no pond.
Rarity wise it has to be a Blackcap, a female last Spring and a male this year.
My favourite unusual bird remains the Sparrow-hawk, which makes periodic rather than regular appearances to dine.

[Chicaddd]

The rarest bird that I remember watching Stu was a Northern Bobwhite as it strolled across the lawn. I never saw it before that and I have never seen it again.

[T0ny]

When I lived in south London, in a suburban garden I had Waxwing (twice - separate years), Brambling, Lesser-spotted Woodpecker, Blackcap (annually), Fieldfare, Redwing and once a Little Owl perched on the roof and called - while I was in the loo, so I never saw that one !
Here in Norfolk - Greylag Geese and Golden Plover flying over, Goldcrest, Lesser Whitethroat and Blackcap again.

Tony

[LMG]

I had a pair of cirl buntings a few years back. They were taking nesting material from my emptied hoover bag. I didn't know what they were, so had to consult my books. But there was no doubting their identity as I had the pair. I saw them three times on the one day but never found their nest or even saw them again.

[KCFoggin]

I guess mine would be a banded female painted bunting sporting 4 bands. Was able to report it and track the bander and turns out this bunting was four years old and banded in a state to the north of me. It was pretty cool.

[Beverlybaynes]

While not at all uncommon, my favorite sighting was a female Cooper's Hawk who came to dine at my front-yard feeders. She showed up, perched atop the feeder pole, on New Year's Day afternoon, 2001. She stuck around for several minutes, looking for dinner, but was unsuccessful!

Another favorite was the Indigo Bunting spotted just once, for moment, on my feeders last spring. He was there at the same time as some American Goldfinches, Northern Cardinals, and Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks, so he added to a very colorful picture! Wish I'd had a camera!!

[GrahamR]

My favoutrite rare bird to visit the garden was a flock of 20 waxwings 3 winters ago.

We were also privileged to have a pair of goldfinches nest and succesfully rear 2 young last summer. This was very surprising as we have a small suburban garden which is right next to a main road.