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Garden (Yard) List 2012 (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter Larry Lade
- Start date
The Falcon
Registered Birder
127. Eastern Wood-Pewee
128. Blackpoll Warbler
129. Canada Warbler
130. Mourning Warbler
128. Blackpoll Warbler
129. Canada Warbler
130. Mourning Warbler
chowchilla
Well-known member
Made the effort to 'look up' again out front around lunchtime, seeing as it was much brighter than the miserable weather we had yesterday. Still missing Whistling Kite and other BOPs. Persistence paid off and I got a soaring Peregrine (and a sore neck) after about half an hour of looking.
Note to self... look up more.
Back at work tomorrow so my list may tail off to nothingness again despite there being many birds still outstanding.
86) Peregrine.
Note to self... look up more.
Back at work tomorrow so my list may tail off to nothingness again despite there being many birds still outstanding.
86) Peregrine.
Vilasy
Active member
Hi!
I'm new to this thread, and actually pretty new to birding. You'll see very little brown birds on my list, I'm not that good yet! But the regulars in my garden are..
Village weaver
Red bishop
Grey hornbill
Grey go-away bird (lourie)
Mocking cliff chat
Familiar chat
Fork tailed drongo
Fiscal flycatcher
African paradise flycatcher
Jameson's fire finch
Crowned lapwing
Dikkop
Violet wood hoopoe
Common scimitarbill
Speckled mousebird
Cape turtle dove
Coqui francolin
Acacia pied barbet
Black collared barbet
Crested barbet
Amethyst sunbird
White bellied sunbird
Violet backed starling
Cape glossy starling
Ground scraper thrush
Pied crow
Hadeda ibis
Greater and lesser striped swallows
Eastern clapper lark
European bee eater
Northern black korhaan
Helmeted guineafowl
Black shouldered kite
Yellow billed kite
African fish eagle
Common bulbul
Cattle egret
Blue waxbill
Red winged starling
Long tailed widow bird
My garden pond is the only water for miles of dusty savannah, since installing it, my house has become an excellent bird hide. Hope to be adding to this list!
I'm new to this thread, and actually pretty new to birding. You'll see very little brown birds on my list, I'm not that good yet! But the regulars in my garden are..
Village weaver
Red bishop
Grey hornbill
Grey go-away bird (lourie)
Mocking cliff chat
Familiar chat
Fork tailed drongo
Fiscal flycatcher
African paradise flycatcher
Jameson's fire finch
Crowned lapwing
Dikkop
Violet wood hoopoe
Common scimitarbill
Speckled mousebird
Cape turtle dove
Coqui francolin
Acacia pied barbet
Black collared barbet
Crested barbet
Amethyst sunbird
White bellied sunbird
Violet backed starling
Cape glossy starling
Ground scraper thrush
Pied crow
Hadeda ibis
Greater and lesser striped swallows
Eastern clapper lark
European bee eater
Northern black korhaan
Helmeted guineafowl
Black shouldered kite
Yellow billed kite
African fish eagle
Common bulbul
Cattle egret
Blue waxbill
Red winged starling
Long tailed widow bird
My garden pond is the only water for miles of dusty savannah, since installing it, my house has become an excellent bird hide. Hope to be adding to this list!
chowchilla
Well-known member
Great stuff there Vilasy and some very nice new additions to our collective world garden list including several lifers for me!
Vilasy
Active member
Thanks! I've already remembered a few I omitted, and saw that I should number them. Oops. That was 40.
Do we count birds within a certain distance? My uncles house on the same property, for instance, has three different kingfishers, and a host of different stuff - different habitat.
Let me add these though, these I've seen at home.
41. Indian mynah
42. Barn owl
43. Firey necked nightjar
44. African pied wagtail
Do we count birds within a certain distance? My uncles house on the same property, for instance, has three different kingfishers, and a host of different stuff - different habitat.
Let me add these though, these I've seen at home.
41. Indian mynah
42. Barn owl
43. Firey necked nightjar
44. African pied wagtail
chowchilla
Well-known member
I thought that I was done for this holiday break: I've just put the rubbish out and decided to have a quick scan of the sky for all of five minutes when a Large-tailed Nightjar went over! At least I assume that's what species it was; I didn't have my bins and they are the only species that I think has been recorded in Cairns. I didn't know they came out so early as it was still fairly light.
I flushed one off the cycle path a few streets away one evening last year so I knew they were around, but I haven't heard any calling from my place before.
87) Large-tailed Nighjar.
I flushed one off the cycle path a few streets away one evening last year so I knew they were around, but I haven't heard any calling from my place before.
87) Large-tailed Nighjar.
chowchilla
Well-known member
If it's on the same property I don't personally see why not.
Speaking of Kingfishers, I've had three species from my place this year and five more species within walking distance of my home. I've had an awful lot of birds this year close to my property which I haven't added to the year list simply because they weren't on the property itself, but the thought did occur to me that some people would have large properties enabling them to wander some distance from the house, perhaps further than Centenary Lakes, a prime birding site within shouting distance of my home and full of great birds. I can't count them but I'd love to!
Vilasy
Active member
Cool, if the same property counts, my list is bigger. The habitat is pretty varied. I live on a rocky outcrop on grasslands, we also have some scrub woodlands and river frontage.
So, let me add..
45. Giant kingfisher
46. Woodland kingfisher
47. Brown hooded kingfisher
48. Malachite kingfisher
49. Pied kingfisher
50. African darter
51. Egyptian goose
52. White faced duck
53. African wood hoopoe
54. Common moorhen
55. Grey heron
56. Black headed heron
57. Hammerkop
58. Reed cormorant
And, if I count birds I can see, but who aren't actually on our property, I can add ostrich, on my neighbor's hill. But I don't think they count.
So, let me add..
45. Giant kingfisher
46. Woodland kingfisher
47. Brown hooded kingfisher
48. Malachite kingfisher
49. Pied kingfisher
50. African darter
51. Egyptian goose
52. White faced duck
53. African wood hoopoe
54. Common moorhen
55. Grey heron
56. Black headed heron
57. Hammerkop
58. Reed cormorant
And, if I count birds I can see, but who aren't actually on our property, I can add ostrich, on my neighbor's hill. But I don't think they count.
chowchilla
Well-known member
I think everybody including me is counting birds seen (and in my case heard) from the property. I've certainly added a lot of stuff from my study window which wasn't on the property itself otherwise my year list would be about half of what it is.
Well I think I can confidently say that no-one will have a bigger bird on their garden list than you.
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Vilasy
Active member
Yeah, I love seeing them. The real reason, though, why I can't count them is that they aren't really wild. They're in their natural habitat, eating what they would and not fed, but they're in a fence. A 100 acre enclosure, but they're technically pets. They're excellent security, so my neighbors keep them as watch birds. I don't think I can count a pet bird, you know? I've seen them wild, of course, but these next door are on the fuzzy line.
It is an interesting debate, what counts as wild? An ostrich in the Kruger park does to many, but that park is fenced. Thousands of miles of fence or so, but the game is enclosed. What size defines wild? What conditions?
It is an interesting debate, what counts as wild? An ostrich in the Kruger park does to many, but that park is fenced. Thousands of miles of fence or so, but the game is enclosed. What size defines wild? What conditions?
Jane Turner
Well-known member
Grief - that is going to keep me busy! Additions and taxonomic quandaries!
Welcome Vilasy and yes get Ostrich on your list!
Welcome Vilasy and yes get Ostrich on your list!
chowchilla
Well-known member
OK maybe those Ostriches aren't countable if they were put there(pity...) but I'd say the ones in Kruger are. Kruger isn't a zoo, it's a very large wild area that became enclosed at some point. Across Australia we have dingo fences and rabbit fences running for thousands of kilometres. They enclose entire sections if the country but don't turn them into zoos albeit very big ones because the wildlife by and large has always been there.
That's how I see it anyway.
Vilasy
Active member
One side of me is thinking "well, they'd most likely attack and kill their 'owners' and aren't fed..." but the other side is saying that they were reintroduced on a trailer, so they're captive. I think I can adore them, and lie in bed listen to their booming calls, but tick the ones I've seen in Namibia as for real wild ostriches.
That said, I prefer the chats we get here above anything else. They're so darn friendly and unafraid. They even come in the house to hunt moths (and try to eat the cat food) - it's like having a pet bird without having to deal with the guilt associated with cages.
That said, I prefer the chats we get here above anything else. They're so darn friendly and unafraid. They even come in the house to hunt moths (and try to eat the cat food) - it's like having a pet bird without having to deal with the guilt associated with cages.
chowchilla
Well-known member
I seriously considered living in South Africa at one point. I was even offered a job there. Makes me wonder what amazing every day wildlife experiences I would have had had I chosen to go.
Vilasy
Active member
Life is never dull here. Between the odd cobra in the bathroom and the noises of jackal, wildebeest, lion, and kudu at night, I honestly could never be happy elsewhere. I'm American, grew up in Boston, and came here for "three months" - seven years ago. It gets into your blood, this crazy place.
That said, living in town is pretty much the same as any other first world country, only with extra crime and corruption. I got lucky. Instead of seeing a wall topped with barbed wire, I see, er, bee eaters and waving grass. But I don't mean to hijack the thread! Just saw an addition. The neighbors are burning fire breaks, which attracts loads of birds, coming to chomp on what is displaced. So, let me add the common fiscal. He is there with the chats, the drones, and the cattle egrets, swooping around like Christmas has come early.
That said, living in town is pretty much the same as any other first world country, only with extra crime and corruption. I got lucky. Instead of seeing a wall topped with barbed wire, I see, er, bee eaters and waving grass. But I don't mean to hijack the thread! Just saw an addition. The neighbors are burning fire breaks, which attracts loads of birds, coming to chomp on what is displaced. So, let me add the common fiscal. He is there with the chats, the drones, and the cattle egrets, swooping around like Christmas has come early.
KenM
Well-known member
My 15th flyover Buzzard yesterday (3 for the whole of 2011), today pair of Bullfinches feeding on the Sallow..my eighth ''paired'' sighting since May 11th (just a single sighting for 2011), and a Northward heading ''No prisoners'' Sand Martin breaking the log jam of Nowt!...no.63.
edenwatcher
Well-known member
Becalmed.
A whitethroat heard this morning would takes us to 100 if I counted heard only ...
Rob
A whitethroat heard this morning would takes us to 100 if I counted heard only ...
Rob
