Richard Prior
Halfway up an Alp
A week off work should do the trick H!
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Garden / Yard List 2017 (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter halftwo
- Start date
A week off work should do the trick H!
KenM
Well-known member
Apart from the handful of Spring sightings, they have been conspicuous by their absence this Summer, hoping this doesn't "abode well" for the Autumn. :-C
Paul Chapman
Well-known member
I'm beginning to worry that the Cocknage Wood Nutcarcker record may be reidentified as a Honey Buzzard.
All the best
Paul
Attachments
dantheman
Bah humbug
Garden Bird Day-listing -
4 hours or so in the garden this morning mostly chilling/birding and some good (for me) garden birds, so thought I'd post the list up. It's clear blue skies and warm (25C?) not hot, but seems very little bird movement now. Will have to see if get any additions later on as it cools down/things get more active. Plenty of scope for more.
1. Buzzard
2. Sparrowhawk
3. Hobby - 1 tried to take out a Starling above the garden
4. Black Stork 4 flew over south, including circling for several minutes
5. Green Woodpecker
6. Great Spotted Woodpecker
7. Collared Dove
8. Woodpigeon
9. Feral Pigeon
10. Swallow
11. Jay (h)
12. Magpie
13. Carrion Crow
14. House Sparrow
15. Tree Sparrow 1 with House Sparrows First for some years.
16. Starling
17. Hoopoe 1 in flight
18. Golden Oriole male flew into Acacia tree with large green caterpillar
19. Black Redstart (h)
20. Cirl Bunting 3+ in garden
21. Goldfinch
22. Greenfinch
23. Chaffinch
24. Blue Tit
25. Great Tit
26. Long-tailed Tit
27. Chiffchaff 1 through with tit flock
28. Willow Warbler 1 through
29. Blackcap
30. Melodious Warbler
31. Fan-tailed Warbler – 1 in flight and over neighbours garden before perching up in the haze for a minute or so. 2nd garden record!
Year ticks in bold
4 hours or so in the garden this morning mostly chilling/birding and some good (for me) garden birds, so thought I'd post the list up. It's clear blue skies and warm (25C?) not hot, but seems very little bird movement now. Will have to see if get any additions later on as it cools down/things get more active. Plenty of scope for more.
1. Buzzard
2. Sparrowhawk
3. Hobby - 1 tried to take out a Starling above the garden
4. Black Stork 4 flew over south, including circling for several minutes
5. Green Woodpecker
6. Great Spotted Woodpecker
7. Collared Dove
8. Woodpigeon
9. Feral Pigeon
10. Swallow
11. Jay (h)
12. Magpie
13. Carrion Crow
14. House Sparrow
15. Tree Sparrow 1 with House Sparrows First for some years.
16. Starling
17. Hoopoe 1 in flight
18. Golden Oriole male flew into Acacia tree with large green caterpillar
19. Black Redstart (h)
20. Cirl Bunting 3+ in garden
21. Goldfinch
22. Greenfinch
23. Chaffinch
24. Blue Tit
25. Great Tit
26. Long-tailed Tit
27. Chiffchaff 1 through with tit flock
28. Willow Warbler 1 through
29. Blackcap
30. Melodious Warbler
31. Fan-tailed Warbler – 1 in flight and over neighbours garden before perching up in the haze for a minute or so. 2nd garden record!
Year ticks in bold
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Rest assured, Honey Buzzards are very distinctive and never misidentified as the closely related Nutcracker. Its all in the spots you know.
Besides, my only UK was the Westleton individual in late November 1985 ...and that was easily unidentified as not a Honey Buzzard on the grounds that all self-respecting Honey Buzzards would be sunning themselves in the tropical south by such date :t:
Richard Prior
Halfway up an Alp
Poor thing, couldn't Bill Oddie have chucked it a few Topic bars? On the advert he always claimed that there was "a hazelnut in every bite":t:
Always a red-letter day when a Red-footed Falcon turns up, but not totally unexpected - almost all previous records on my land have been at this time of year.
2004. A female on 14 August.
2013. A juvenile on 4 August 2012 and another juvenile on 11 August.
2014. A mini influx with one juvenile on 10 August 2014, another a week later, then four together in early September.
2015. Three singles were seen on dates between 5 and 17 September.
Still a few White Storks lingering.
114. Red-footed Falcon
2004. A female on 14 August.
2013. A juvenile on 4 August 2012 and another juvenile on 11 August.
2014. A mini influx with one juvenile on 10 August 2014, another a week later, then four together in early September.
2015. Three singles were seen on dates between 5 and 17 September.
Still a few White Storks lingering.
114. Red-footed Falcon
dantheman
Bah humbug
Nice! Thought I had a pale orangey underparted falcon circling high up the other day but left un'ided unfortunately - in Western France at this time of year presume that would have been too unexpected ...
dantheman
Bah humbug
Rest of day -
32. Serin – 1m landed in tree above
33. White Wagtail
34. House Martin
35. Swift - 1
Didn't quite go to plan, as Big(ish) Days go. Serin was middle of the day, the others late evening, when we were also treated to plenty of Hobby action with a presumed imm. (?) doing multiple short vertical stoops over the nearby rooftops and gardens – no success though. Otherwise a young Grass Snake in the pond was nice.
I'm sure I've seen more at migration times before (very disappointing after the Black Storks - no vis mig raptors, also no Black Kite, Honey Buzzard or ST Eagle this visit which should all be resident), but hey.
Anyway, the gauntlet is down ...
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KenM
Well-known member
Rest of day -
32. Serin – 1m landed in tree above
33. White Wagtail
34. House Martin
35. Swift - 1
Anyway, the gauntlet is down ...
......looks more like a "marigold".
dantheman
Bah humbug
......looks more like a "marigold".
This is middle league Ken - the big hitters will obviously get a lot more. Some a lot less. (Look forward to your disposable latex jobbies in the coming weeks
)Should also point out that all birds were seen from roughly the same favoured viewing spot (and a reasonable distance from the front door).
(The numbers bit is all harmless fun anyway - more important for me were some good birds including the garden 2nd and some excellent birding.)
dantheman
Bah humbug
Yes, four Cornwall ticks in there, although I'm sure some may have less?
Presume you read #737?
stuartvine
Well-known member
Three firsts for my tiny garden - Willow Warbler, Buzzard (overhead) Canada Goose - a flock of 12 flying straight towards my top floor window, honking loudly - not disturbing at all!
KenM
Well-known member
stuartvine
Well-known member
3 firsts!!!!.....gotta be worth an extra sugar cube in your tea Stuart.
Well, a sweetener in my coffee at least
Simon Wates
Well-known member
Poo-eep! I waited and no second call audible as this Ringed Plover went high overhead this morning. Its just not good enough, I always wait for the 2nd call so it can't count - would be a 1st this year. It could have been someones squeaky gate!
dantheman
Bah humbug
+1 to 36 as forgot a single Honey Buzzard that went through at the same time as the storks.
8 more mid-morning today, always nice!
dantheman
Bah humbug
Think Willow Warbler is always a good bird for gardens where not expected. The other two slightly more expected/unexciting??
Where calls/songs are distinct enough you'd like to count them on a single go, as long as your brain was in gear and you didn't just hear it subconsciously ...
But plenty of other calls/peeps etc and you can't ever be totally sure it wasn't an odd something else or a Starling or something ... probably the safest policy unfortunately!
