Bird Points Game Version 3.0-British Garden Birds!!!

[The Devil Bird]

Hello everyone,
If you can't be bothered reading all this readthe summary at the bottom! ;)
Seeing the success of my two bird points games and birderbf's ABA version I have decided to create a version that even backyard birdwatchers can take part in. It is simpler and easier to count up your scores with scores being from one to ten instead of 10 to 100. I hope this game will be popular.

The points are based on how rare the 70 most common British garden birds are as a whole in British gardens. For example, 1 points means a bird which, generally is very common in British gardens, eg a Woodpigeon and 10 would be a bird that is virtually never seen in an average British garden, eg a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker.

OK, so now you know how the points work, you need to know how to count them. Next to every bird there is a number between 1 and ten. For every bird that you have seen in your garden, add the points next to them to your score.

The aim of this game is to see the value of your garden bird-wise. I could post it all in one installment but then it wouldn't be so fun and competitive etc so there will be seven installments of ten.

YOU CAN COUNT FLYOVERS AND IF HAVE SEEN ANY ADDITIONAL SPECIES, YOU WILL GET 10 POINTS BUT TELL ME FIRST.
EUROPEANS CAN PLAY IN CATEGORY B (BRITISH CATEGORY A) BUT SORRY I DON'T THINK IT WILL WORK FOR AMERICANS.

Here is the key:

1 Very Common
2 Common
3 Quite Common
4 Regular
5 Occasional Visitor
6 Rare but does visit fairly regularly
7 Seen in an average garden very rarely
8 Seen in an average garden only a few times ever
9 Seen in an average garden only two or three times ever
10 Seen only once over or never in an average garden

Any questions ask me. (summary- for every bird you have seen in your garden add up the points next to them to give you the total of that installment, wait till the next installment to add more birds to your total. Points are for how rare the 70 commonest garden birds are as a whole in Britain)

[The Devil Bird]

Here is the first section
Grey Heron 6
Mallard 9
Sparrowhawk 5
Buzzard 10
Kestrel 7
Red-legged Partridge 10
Pheasant 8
Moorhen 8
Black-headed Gull 4
Common Gull 6
My score for that section is 28.

[teamsaint]

47 for me.

[The Devil Bird]

Thanks Tom. I will post a scoreboard when and if this new bird points game kicks off.

[On-Firecrest]

32 for me please

[claire78]

18 for my garden please David
Claire

[The Devil Bird]

Thankyou,
Here are the current scores 9full stop means score is up to date), hopefully more people will join in:
GOLD Teamsaint with 47
Silver The Devil Bird 33
Bronze On-firecrest with 32
4th Claire78 18

Come on everyone we need more players, feel free to join in!

[The Devil Bird]

Here is the second round for garden birds.
Stock Dove 7
Woodpigeon 1
Collared Dove 2
Feral Pigeon 2
Turtle Dove 10
Cuckoo 10
Barn Owl 10
Little Owl 10
Tawny Owl 6
Kingfisher 10
That was a hard round giving me just 5 points.

[teamsaint]

11

also an additional specie - Red Kite

[The Devil Bird]

Well done Tom, an extra ten points for you.
GOLD Teamsaint with 68
Silver On-firecrest with 41.
Bronze The Devil Bird 33 .
4th Claire78 29 .

[On-Firecrest]

tricky round only 9 for me...
btw does it matter what garden we see these from?

[The Devil Bird]

Hi. at least you got better than me. I suppose it doesn't matter no, as long as it is one garden.

[claire78]

11 for me for round 2
Claire

[The Devil Bird]

Score updated, see post 10.

Come on everyone we need more players!!! Not many garden fans use the Quizzes section I suppose.
Please feel free to join in.

[The Devil Bird]

I would post the next round right now but I cannot find my precious book of bird points that I made. When I find it, hopefully soon I will post the next part.

[The Devil Bird]

Ok, I found my book, here it is, part 3
Green Woodpecker 7
Great-spotted Woodpecker 3
Lesser-spotted Woodpecker 10
Swift 1
Swallow 7
House Martin 6
Grey Wagtail 9
Pied Wagtail 6
Waxwing 9
Wren 2
My score for this one is 32. I know what my final score will be, I worked it out!
GOLD Teamsaint with 68
Silver The Devil Bird 65
Bronze On-firecrest with 41
4th Claire78 29

[Mabel]

Sorry for butting in but I've juuust come acroos this now.

First round I got 15 points
Second, 12 points
Third I got 31

That brings me up to a grand total of 58 points, if that's ok?

[Jane Turner]

hmm - I have a garden list of 189 species... I've had three BBRC species in it!

[Jane Turner]

157 so far... and many species not on the list. Not seen Moorhen, Barn Owl, kingfisher, LS Woodie and Waxwing

[The Devil Bird]

Thank you guys for joining in we are a bit short of players for this one.
GOLD Jane Turner 157
Silver Teamsaint 68
Bronze The Devil Bird 65
4th Mabel 58
5th On-firecrest with 41
6th Claire78 29
Jane if you tell me the species you have had that are not on there you can have 10 points for each of them.

[pe'rigin]

Bit late with this one 'D',

I'm going to be miles behind Jane, and what's galling, way behind Teamsaint.

Section 1 = 19
Section 2 = 5
Section 3 = 16

regards

P

[tyrannulet]

looks like a fun game, if only there was a way you could do it for the Americans... Would be pretty hard though...:-C

[Jane Turner]

Well just taking the Gulls, I could add GBBG, LBBG, Herring, Yellow-legged, Ring-billed, Sabine's, Kittiwake, Little, and Mediterranean.

Of those Sabines and Little were from the garden as opposed to flying over. I think its more fun to only use the species that you list. I have an unusual garden, for example I've had Grey Plover, Hoopoe, Yellow-browed warbler, and Wryneck IN it

[The Devil Bird]

GOLD Jane Turner 157
Silver Teamsaint 68
Bronze The Devil Bird 65
4th Mabel 58
5th On-firecrest 41
6th Pe'rigrin 40
7th Claire78 29

Hi tyrannulet I would love it if you could play but obviously you don't get any of our garden birds over there... have you tried birderbf's ABA life list edition bird points game?
Jane, I wish I had your garden I can't believe you have seen all that from it! Especially Sabines Gull and Grey Plover and everything. Obviously you being 130 points ahead would be unfair for everyone else but I will add it if you want to?

[On-Firecrest]

26 for me please...
going on holiday so i wont be able to update my score for a bit...will get lots of good garden birds though...

[tyrannulet]

i just found it, didn't see it with all of the quiz's... i could try and play this one, been to italy several times but sadly i dont always remember what i saw and most of it was not in a garden... :P

[teamsaint]

32 for round 3

[MarkHows]

Just got in on the action
Round 1 - 59
ROund 2 - 36
Round 3 - 32

Luck so far I am sure it will get harder

Mark

[The Devil Bird]

Thank you everyone, the next round is up in a minute... Welcome Mark!
GOLD Jane Turner 157
Silver Mark Howes 127
Bronze Teamsaint 100
4th On-firecrest 67
5th The Devil Bird 65
6th Mabel 58
7th Pe'rigrin 40
8th Claire78 29

[The Devil Bird]

Dunnock 1
Robin 1
Fieldfare 9
Blackbird 2
Song Thrush 4
Redwing 4
Mistle Thrush 4
Garden Warbler 9
Blackcap 6
Chiffchaff 6
I have almost got full points out of this round 40/46. Just Chiffchaff.

[Jane Turner]

Full house of 46

Could have added Grasshopper, Reed, Sedge, Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat, Willow, Wood and Yellow-browed to the warblers...

[teamsaint]

just 24

[teamsaint]

and some more 10 pointers:

hobby
golden plover
lesser black-backed gull
great black-backed gull
herring gull
willow warbler (but you might include this in the next round)

makes 174 excluding willow warbler

[MarkHows]

Just missed Garden Warbler so 37

Mark

[Mabel]

Put me down for 28 in Round 4

[pe'rigin]

Round 4


Only 16.

[The Devil Bird]

Thanks, here are the scores (yes Tom willow warb is in the next round) We have a tie!
GOLD Jane Turner 203.
Silver Mark Howes 164 .
Silver Teamsaint 164 .
4th On-firecrest 67
5th The Devil Bird 65.
6th Mabel 86.
7th Pe'rigrin 56.
8th Claire78 29

[The Devil Bird]

Part 5
Willow Warbler 7
Goldcrest 8
Spotted Flycatcher 8
Long-tailed Tit 3
Marsh Tit 8
Willow Tit 8
Coal Tit 3
Blue Tit 1
Great Tit 1
Nuthatch 5
16 for me

[rezMole]

PC been out of action, but recovered now, so:

Rd 1 = 40
Rd 2 = 11
Rd 3 = 28
Rd 4 = 28
Rd 5 = 23

[teamsaint]

22 for me

[Mabel]

13, please. We don't get a lot of those species haha!

[Jane Turner]

36 for me, I didn't ID my one capped tit, so both Marsh and Willow missing

[steve west]

Well just taking the Gulls, I could add GBBG, LBBG, Herring, Yellow-legged, Ring-billed, Sabine's, Kittiwake, Little, and Mediterranean.

Of those Sabines and Little were from the garden as opposed to flying over. I think its more fun to only use the species that you list. I have an unusual garden, for example I've had Grey Plover, Hoopoe, Yellow-browed warbler, and Wryneck IN it

When will you be sending out invitations for your next garden party Jane?

[Jane Turner]

It's an open house/garden policy here Steve.

[steve west]

It's an open house/garden policy here Steve.

That sounds inviting enough, shame though that the last time I was near Merseyside was for the Stilt Sandpiper in 198..1985(?).

As for the garden competition, I haven't got a garden so could I include my study window list?

http://www.birdinginspain.com

[Jane Turner]

You know I'm fairly sure I saw that bird up here. I had a wader in flight with trailing legs and a white rum, but rather plain upperparts which didn't fit with Wood Sand- which is what I thought it was. I later found out that it was one of the few days the bird went missing fro Frodsham.... Ah well, (yet) another one that got away.

[steve west]

Is there any thread about the "ones that got away" - I've got quite a few of those that would probably make interesting reading.

[Jane Turner]

There is... I'll PM it to you if I find it. Some real horror stories in it.

Here is my "Joker" for the garden list. Unfortunately I missed out on photographing the Peregrine on the lawn.

http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=294341&postcount=316

[steve west]

Thanks for the PM with the thread Jane. It's strangely comforting to see that one is not alone where incompetence and bad luck are concerned! As the saying goes in Spanish "Consuelo de muchos, consuelo de tontos" - who isn't a little "tonto"?
I suppose this is not the thread, but I'm still green on how threads work, so I'll just list my ones that got away: dark phase Booted Eagle (UK), Indigo Bunting (Cape Clear), Lesser Yellowlegs, Greater Spotted Eagle, Common Rosefinch and Rough Legged Buzzard (Spain).
Time heals.

[The Devil Bird]

Sorry about my absence, I have been pretty busy again. Welcome to the game Rezmole. Steve, you can play in category 3 if you like, from your window.
GOLD Jane Turner 239.
Silver Teamsaint 186
4th Mark Howes 164
5th Rezmole 130.
6th Mabel 99
7th The Devil Bird 81.
8th On-firecrest 67
9th Pe'rigrin 56.
10th Claire78 29

[The Devil Bird]

Treecreeper 5
Jay 4
Magpie 1
Jackdaw 6
Rook 7
Carrion Crow 2
Starling 2
House Sparrow 3
Tree Sparrow 9
Chaffinch 2

[rezMole]

28 For Me

[Jane Turner]

all of them for me

[teamsaint]

24 for me (i haven't seen house sparrow)

[MarkHows]

36 for me sopt fly and willow tit omissions

Mark

[The Devil Bird]

Thank you all.
GOLD Jane Turner 281.
Silver Teamsaint 210.
4th Mark Howes 200.
5th Rezmole 158.
6th The Devil Bird 106
7th Mabel 99
8th On-firecrest 67
9th Pe'rigrin 56
10th Claire78 29

[Kat]

I've only just discovered the quizzes! They look fun to join in on! Is it too late to join in on this one?
Some people have certainly seen some interesting birds in their gardens!!

[The Devil Bird]

Kat of course you can join in. Feel free to have a go.

[Kat]

Ok, here are my scores - Been quite lucky with some of the birds that have turned up.
Part 1 - 63 (had everything but RLPartridge in the garden)
Part 2 - 31
Part 3 - 45 (was extremely surprised to have not one but 2 lesser spots in the apple tree!)
Part 4 - 37
Part 5 - 44
Part 6 - 41

Birds that have appeared in or I have seen flying over that aren't on the list include Grey Partridge, Lapwing, Curlew, Woodcock, Herring, GBB and LBB Gulls, Meadow pipit, Skylark, Common Whitethroat and Dipper!!!!

[The Devil Bird]

Thanks for that Kat, the final part will be posted tommorrow.
GOLD Jane Turner 331.
Silver Kat with 311.
4th Teamsaint 210.
5th Mark Howes 200.
6th Rezmole 158.
7th Mabel 123.
8th The Devil Bird 106.
9th On-firecrest 67
10th Pe'rigrin 56
11th Claire78 29

[Mabel]

add another 24 for me, please

:)

[teamsaint]

hey i get 371 for kat

[The Devil Bird]

I don't know what to do! Erm cos if I gave everyone 10 points for every single bird that isn't on the list it wouldn't be fair, I will give a limit of 5 birds not on the list so if you have alot you can only get a maximum of 50 points for them. SO I will give Jane and Kat 50 points.
If anyone else has had 5 or more birds that are not on the list please let me know and I will sort it out. I should have thought of this earlier.

[rezMole]

I have five (at least) that aren't on your list. Yellow Wag, Sand Martin, Common Tern, Canada Goose, Cormorant spring to mind, but I think there are probably a few more.

[Jane Turner]

I don't know what to do! Erm cos if I gave everyone 10 points for every single bird that isn't on the list it wouldn't be fair, I will give a limit of 5 birds not on the list so if you have alot you can only get a maximum of 50 points for them. SO I will give Jane and Kat 50 points.
If anyone else has had 5 or more birds that are not on the list please let me know and I will sort it out. I should have thought of this earlier.

That's fair.... I'll make my five birds White-rumped Sandpiper, White-winged Black Tern, Wryneck, Yellow-browed Warbler and Long-tailed Skua!

[teamsaint]

I'll choose mine later, but I think I've had 6 additional species

[The Devil Bird]

I've added 50 points for each of you that has seen 5 or more other birds. Final pat is coming up. Janes garden truly is spectactular.
GOLD Jane Turner 331.
Silver Kat with 311.
4th Teamsaint 250.
5th Mark Howes 200.
6th Rezmole 208.
7th Mabel 123.
8th The Devil Bird 106.
9th On-firecrest 67
10th Pe'rigrin 56
11th Claire78 29

[The Devil Bird]

Well, it has been great running these bird points games and I love doing them but I think until the yearlist 08 version, this may be it. But you can update your scores for all of them if you have seen anything new since we played.
I'll miss the points games :-C , I have come up with ideas for local patch points games and even day points games but I don't think they will catch on. If you think otherwise then please tell me.

Any way we finish off the bird points games for 2007 with part 7 of version 3.0 Garden Birds and a total of 77 points available for this round:

Brambling 9
Bullfinch 9
Greenfinch 4
Goldfinch 4
Siskin 6
Linnet 8
Redpoll 9
Hawfinch 10
Yellowhammer 9
Reed Bunting 9

25 for me

[MarkHows]

Sorry a bit behind here part 6
a bit poor 25
part 7
a poor 26

Other birds in my garden
Cuckoo, Whitethroat, Hobby, Lapwing, Herring and LBB gulls

Mark

[teamsaint]

23 for the last round

[Mabel]

31 please Carol.... eh, Tom ;)

[Jane Turner]

all but Hawfinch for me, too lazy to do the maths..... I have Corn, Snow and Lapland bunting to compensate

[rezMole]

A poor 23 for me on this one

[Kat]

67 for me please!! Lucky enough to have them all but hawfinch.

[The Devil Bird]

Ok the final scoreboard, we still need Claire's, Pe'rigrins and On-firecrests scores.
Congratulations Jane Turner, bird points extraordinaire! The glory and the crown of bird points game 3.0 garden birds is yours :king: !Well done! Also Silver award goes to Kat and bronze award goes to Mark Howes.
Finally I want to thank you all for playing bird points game 3.0 garden points and please update your score if you see anything new and feel free to take part in the 08 year list version when it comes and see my quiz if you want (see signature).
GOLD Jane Turner 398. :king: :king: :king:
Silver Kat with 378. :king: :king:
Bronze Mark Howes 301. :king:
5th Teamsaint 273. :clap:
6th Rezmole 231. :clap:
7th Mabel 154. :clap:
8th The Devil Bird 106. (I would clap but you don't applaud yourself )
I would clap these but I am only allowed ten smiles so imagine them)
9th On-firecrest 67
10th Pe'rigrin 56
11th Claire78 29

[On-Firecrest]

sorry for the late update but i have been on holiday so...
part 4 +40
part 5 +28
part 6 +27
part 7 +17
and my five ten pointers can be hobby, buzzard, lbb gull, herring gull and stock dove.

[matthall]

34 for round 1

[matthall]

round 2 gave me 5 points

[matthall]

round 3 got me 22

[matthall]

round 4 got me 30

[matthall]

28 for round 5

[matthall]

a poor 23 for the penultimate round

[matthall]

26 for the final one.

[The Devil Bird]

Okay, so sorry for the late reply. Here is the updated scoreboard. Thanks for joining in Matthall.
GOLD Jane Turner 398. :king: :king: :king:
Silver Kat with 378. :king: :king:
Bronze Mark Howes 301. :king:
4th Teamsaint 273. :clap:
5th Rezmole 231. :clap:
6th On-firecrest 179. :clap:
7th Matthall 168. Mabel 154.
8th Mabel 154.
9th The Devil Bird 106.
10th Pe'rigrin 56
11th Claire78 29

[teamsaint]

david check the numbers on the list. you've skipped number 4 ;)

[The Devil Bird]

Thanks Tom (is this right?)

[teamsaint]

4 points for redwing please david!

[The Devil Bird]

GOLD Jane Turner 398. :king: :king: :king:
Silver Kat with 378. :king: :king:
Bronze Mark Howes 301. :king:
4th Teamsaint 273. :clap:
5th Rezmole 231. :clap:
6th On-firecrest 183. :clap:
7th Matthall 168. Mabel 154.
8th Mabel 154.
9th The Devil Bird 106.
10th Pe'rigrin 56
11th Claire78 29

[The Devil Bird]

Seeing the recent split; anyone lucky enough to have seen a Caspian over there house can have 10 points, and if you are like Jane Turner and have alot of good fly overs and have even been lucky enough to see a American Herring Gull over your garden let alone managed to ID it, then you can have 10 too.