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'Dead cert' species within 5 minutes of leaving your house (1 Viewer)

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seanalfi

Well-known member
Having had the afternoon off I took advantage of a walk around Telegraph Hill Park and Nunhead Cemetery (both within 5 minutes of my house). As I mentally tallied up the birds that I had seen I was pleasantly surprised to reach 26 species, not bad for a dreary late November day in South East London. (Highlights were goldcrest, gsw, green woodpecker, greenfinch, jay and both song and mistle thrush).

I also got to thinking about the handful of species that are absolute 'dead certs' for a winter day in my part of London: Carrion crow, woodpigeon, blue tit, ring-necked parakeet, black-headed gull, robin, blackbird and magpie.

How much does this list differ from those in other parts of the UK? Who has the most exciting 'dead cert' within 5 minutes of leaving their house?
 
Black-headed Gull, Wood & Feral Pigeons, Carrion Crow, Magpie.

Not 100% reliable, maybe 90%, adds Herring Gull, Blue Tit, Blackbird.

Great Tit, Robin, Mistle Thrush, Dunnock down around 75-80% reliable.

House Sparrow and Starling in the past, but not any more - have to go a fair way to find either of them.
 
Most reliable first then lessening slightly as the list goes on...... (varies with time of year and time of day).

Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Starling, Robin (winter), Lesser Black Backed Gull (summer) Swift (for a few months in summer), Blue Tit, Goldfinch, Magpie (increasingly), Black Headed Gull, House Martin (summer).
 
Top of the list would be Siskin, as they are quite flighty and vocal. Robin and Blackbird next, then Blue, Great and Coal Tit; Redwing at this time of year, and Dunnock.
 
Not in the UK. However, I find the local diversity of birds to be fascinating depending on where you live. What can adapt to an urban/suburban environment in Bangkok? Sydney? Quito? Los Angeles?

Here's what I can see within a 5 minute walk from my house:

Resident, (Definite): Great Egret, Cattle Egret, White Ibis, Common Gallinule, American Coot, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Blue Jay, Fish Crow, European Starling, Northern Mockingbird, Boat-tailed Grackle

Winter, (Definite): Pied-billed Grebe, Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Ring-billed Gull, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Blue-headed Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Black-and-white Warbler, Northern Parula, Palm Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Prairie Warbler

Summer, (Definite): Common Nighthawk

There used to be a resident Barn Owl in my neighborhood, but that species has become only a sporadic visitor in the past two years or so.
 
Interesting from Mark and Carlos both. Some 'exotics' on all three of our lists. And this thread is definitely most welcome to members outside of the UK. I was particularly thinking of UK winter but any season,locality perspective welcome. In spring/summer I think I would only add common swift and great tit to my list above.

Siskin and Redwing would be special in my neck of the woods.

Nutcracker, I think makes a good point - 90% chance or more seems a good threshold for this thread. I long for the days of ubiquitious house sparrows and starlings. I took them for granted.
 
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When I was in England I'd say the only 90-100% definite birds were black-headed gull and herring gull. House sparrow, greenfinch, blue/great tit, goldcrest common but I'd say more a 60% deal, unless you were outside for many hours.

In Los Angeles my only 100% definite bird is yellow-rumped warbler (Audubon's) but only in autumn and winter. I'm not sure I'd even want to label 90% on any of the others.
 
For the park round the corner from my house, which is near Swindon town centre:
100% mallard, Canada goose, moorhen, coot, feral pigeon, woodpigeon, magpie.
90%+ robin, blackbird, jackdaw, carrion crow, lesser black-backed gull.
I'm also 90%+ to see starling on the brief walk to the park, but they hardly ever venture in. Black-headed gull is 100% in winter but clears off for the breeding season.
 
If I start looking as soon as I leave my house, and go to my local reservoirs (*5min away):

House Sparrow, Starling, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Feral Pigeon, Wood Pigeon, Jay, Crow, Magpie, LBB Gull, Herring Gull, Common Gull, Black-headed Gull (not during breeding season) Apart from the Gulls, all are in my garden each day as well as locally.

At the reservoirs: most common Waterfowl: Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Egyptian Goose, Mute Swan, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Pochard, Tufted Duck. Pretty much 100% if you're prepared to walk or wait: Kestrel, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk (also a regular garden visitor... adults and juveniles), Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Robin, Dunnock, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Ring-necked Parakeet, Great spotted Woodpecker, Blackbird, Song Thrush

There's a few I've missed too, and there's parts of the reservoirs that I don't have time to visit most times I go, but in less than two hours at my local reservoirs, you're pretty much guaranteed to see more than 50 species of birds.
 
Fascinating thread!
In the UK: Robin; Dunnock; Wood Pig; Great, Blue, Coal and Marsh tit; Nuthatch; GSW and Green woodpecker.

When I used to live in the Pyrenees (usually as a summer visitor): Blue and Great tit; Dunnock; Siskin; Serin; Greenfinch; Rock bunting; Pied wag; Short toed eagle; Dipper.

Peter
 
Interesting thread :t:

From my front door on edge of rural town I could normally expect to see House Sparrow, Starling, Blue Tit, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Rook, Jackdaw, Robin, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull. 50/50 chance of Long-tailed Tit in winter months as there's often a group flitting through the trees on the street outside. If I head down to Canongate Bridge I can almost guarantee Grey Heron and Dipper :t: Usually Moorhen & Mallard too.
 
I forgot the three species that breed at my local reservoirs, and that are either perched, hunting, in-flight, or spooked: Cormorant, Grey Heron, Little Egret
 
Dead cert year-round: Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, White Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Goldfinch.

Dead cert seasonal: Brent Goose, Wigeon, Lapwing, Dunlin, Turnstone, Common Tern, Barn Swallow, House Martin, Whitethroat, Chiffchaff.

High likelihood: Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Shelduck, Teal, Mallard, Pheasant, Little Egret, Buzzard, Kestrel, Grey Plover, Redshank, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Gull, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Meadow Pipit, Wren, Song Thrush, Redwing, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Nuthatch, Jay, Greenfinch.

Fun idea :)
 
right now I would have to say Blue Jay, White-throated Sparrow, Slate-colored Junco, Northern Cardinal and American Crow. Maybe Song Sparrow as well. In warmer weather American Robin, Common Grackle, and Gray Catbird would also rank.

House Sparrow is super abundant in the neighborhood but I seldom have seen any while birding, since they typically keep near human habitation.
 
Despite being on the opposite side of the country, much of my list is the same as Mysticete. I'd add Canada Goose, mourning dove, and maybe American goldfinch. If I spend any time driving around, red-tailed hawk is probably going to be seen, too.
 
From my home in Brisbane, Noisy Miner, Common Myna, Spotted Dove, Torresian Crow, Australian White Ibis, Magpie-lark, Grey and Pied Butcherbirds, Rainbow Lorikeet, Welcome Swallow, Australian Magpie, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Australasian Figbird and Black-faced Cuckooshrike are all guaranteed, along with Australian Brushturkey if you head in the right direction! A load of others like Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Crested Pigeon, Straw-necked Ibis and Laughing Kookaburra are virtually guaranteed.
 
Dead cert within 5 minutes is a bit restricting, but I'd say I can usually nail Dipper within about 10 minutes from the front door. It certainly frequently features on the school run.
 
For me, House Sparrow (most common bird at my feeders), American Crow (huge winter roost in the city, hundreds fly over my house each morning/evening), Mallard, Ring-billed Gull. Some others are always around but I sometimes manage to miss them on my walks with the dog: Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, and the like.
 
Not UK, but South Florida:
northern Cardinal, Bahama Mockingbird, Blue Jay, Painted Bunting, white ibis, Muscovy ducks, green heron, cattle egret, great egret, spot breasted oriole, American Kestrel, black vulture, burrowing owl, black vulture, turkey vulture, anhinga, yellow chevroned parakeet, pigeon, common dove, Eurasian collared dove, cormorant, osprey
 
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