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Birds youve seen at work (1 Viewer)

Euan Buchan

Euan Buchan

The Edinburgh Birdwatcher
Supporter
Scotland
Birds You've seen at work

We have had similar threads to this eg Birds seen at restaurant's so thought it be interesting what birds you've seen during work. Earlier I saw 2 Buzzards soaring & calling above me in the car park.
 
Red Kite on the way to Heathrow and Tawny Owl on the way back from Heathrow. I'm a London cabbie. Many others over the years including Buzzard, Kestrel, Little Egret and a flock of Waxwing on Finchley High Road, which at the time was a lifer for me and almost made me contemplate kicking out my passenger there and then so I could get a better look! Luckily enough the flock was still there after I had dropped my passenger off and I returned.

Check out my old thread in the Greater London section of this forum.
 
There are two different types of work - some of us are lucky enough to work in the field from time to time and others are restricted to being stuck in an office or similar. I guess the spirit of this thread is the latter so I'll stick to some of the better stuff that's on my office list!

3 spp of diver, Slavonian grebe, smew, long-tailed duck, barnacle goose, Med, glaucous and Iceland gulls, Pom skua, green sandpiper, black guillemot, waxwing, kingfisher, short-eared owl - from a total of 83 species.

I guess I should spend less time looking out of the window!
 
Fat Paul Scholes said:
There are two different types of work - some of us are lucky enough to work in the field from time to time and others are restricted to being stuck in an office or similar. I guess the spirit of this thread is the latter so I'll stick to some of the better stuff that's on my office list!

3 spp of diver, Slavonian grebe, smew, long-tailed duck, barnacle goose, Med, glaucous and Iceland gulls, Pom skua, green sandpiper, black guillemot, waxwing, kingfisher, short-eared owl - from a total of 83 species.

I guess I should spend less time looking out of the window!
Click to expand...

Or tell us where your window is so we can all come and have a look!
 
Seen out the window while at work: Red-tailed hawk, turkey vulture, snow goose, Canada goose, blue jay, goldfinch, and junco.

Sadly, I'm now in a new office (cubicle) in a windowless "POD" of offices. Horrible place.
 
I have a mobile office and it is my job to look out of the window. I'm a train driver.

Most of the routes I work are rural ones. They include two large river estuaries as well as passing through a RSPB reserve so I see lots of birds every day. This week's highlight so far was my first avocets of the year.

One of my favourite sightings was whilst waiting at a red signal one evening. I had the cab side window open as usual and felt as though I was being watched. Looking out I saw a tawny owl perched on a lineside cable about three metres away looking in at me. It didn't fly off so for once I was quite happy that the delay at the signal lasted several minutes.

Somewhat bizarrely, beside one of the river estuaries, a few pairs of oystercatchers nest on the track each year, actually between the rails. Mostly the eggs are taken by the local gulls or crows which have worked out that the sitting birds fly off the nest every time a train passes, but a few have managed to raise young over the years.

Sadly there is a major downside to my job as I get to kill birds nearly every day as well. My list of casualties is depressingly long.
 
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From the office of my laboratory in the leafy Cheshire countryside (and the nearby mere):-

Bittern
Mandarin Duck
Osprey
Lesser spotted Woodpecker
Hawfinch
Pied Flycatcher

are the highlights of the 150-ish bird list.
 
Today at my work I have seen Robin & Blackbird. I work at a Church Hall and near a wood, during Spring & Summer the place is full of Rabbits.
 
Every day this time of year: Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull, LBBG, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Goldfinch, Robin, Blackbird, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Blackcap, Starling, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove and the ferals Sometimes Jay, Redwing and very rarely Waxwing and GSW. Working from home, so I can see the feeders!
 
I might win the most boring award. From my office window, I've seen Great Tits, Black Redstarts, Jackdaws, and Rooks. 90% is Jackdaws and Rooks. I do like Jackdaws, but they're everywhere here.
 
Overlooking part of an estuary helps build a useful list, best being Yellowhammer, Spoonbill, Osprey and White-winged Black Tern.
 
Nothing too exciting for me, but very glad to have a window that opens! (For now... new job and big move soon!). I think the most interesting thing has been the thousands of American Crows (plus a handful of Fish Crows) that stream by on winter evenings, sometimes descending and gathering in a huge noisy group outside my building before heading to roost. IIRC the Syracuse winter roosts hold some 8,000 crows. They've started dispersing for the spring now, plus with increasing day length I'm usually heading home before dusk anyway.

Beyond the crow spectacle... Cedar Waxwing is probably the most exciting thing I've seen from my window. Heard Purple Finch the other day.
 
Well if I count my house as my office, I work from home a lot, I managed 19 species last week on tea-breaks.

Maybe we should have 'birds I have seen while driving to and from the office' and my best would be Osprey, near Warnford, Hants, years ago on my way back home - belter!
 
Working for the job agency in a random location in Cornwall last year - had a Golden Oriole fly past when I went outside for lunch break. Unexpected!
 
Fat Paul Scholes said:
It overlooks Aberdeen harbour - and there's another Iceland gull there today!
Click to expand...

Were you one of the two birders I bumped into last week who pointed out the Iceland Gull and then directed me off to a good location for sea-watching at the lighthouse? I had been up in Aberdeen for work and was rather conspicuous in my suit trousers and fleece! If so, thanks :) [or if not, just ignore me!]
 
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I work from home, so it's my usual garden birds: various finches, tits, thrushes, corvids and house sparrows, with woodpigeons, black-headed gulls and a sparrowhawk every now and then. The odd "rarity" makes an appearance (red kite, little egret, waxwing, RN parakeet), but I don't think any has been while I'm working.

I work for a company with factories in Switzerland and France, however, and I have seen some quite interesting birds from the windows of their offices when I visit (pied flycatcher, black redstart, serin, alpine swift, green woodpecker)
 
lazza said:
Were you one of the two birders I bumped into last week who pointed out the Iceland Gull and then directed me off to a good location for sea-watching at the lighthouse? I had been up in Aberdeen for work and was rather conspicuous in my suit trousers and fleece! If so, thanks :) [or if not, just ignore me!]
Click to expand...

Yes, that was me! Well, I was one of them, anyway...

Hope you enjoyed your look around. It's like a second home to me so I do enjoy showing it off to people - and you had a good day for it at least. It's not always quite as welcoming!
 
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