How big is your GARDEN/YARD LIST? (1 Viewer)

Since last posting in June, we haven't had any new additions. Then, on Sept 7, an Osprey (Sp. #110) graced us with several minutes of viewing while it leisurely soared on an early morning thermal and then glided off southward. Considering there are no lakes closer than 10 miles away, as the bird flies, this was a real treat. Yesterday brought us #111 for the yard: A Yellow-headed Blackbird in with a flock of 20+ Brewer's Blackbirds. Again, surprising, as the Yellow-headed is a marsh/wetlands bird and there isn't any of this kind of habitat closer than 20 miles of our place.

I was just re-reading this thread and it is so much fun to see who's seeing what so close to home. We should instigate a Birders' Backyard Time-Share Holiday program and visit one another.

Katy Penland said:

I was just re-reading this thread and it is so much fun to see who's seeing what so close to home. We should instigate a Birders' Backyard Time-Share Holiday program and visit one another.

Click to expand...

Or feeder time-share

New bird for my garden this week - Hazel grouse which was most pleasant surprise ...now got them on both land list and garden list )))

LOL, Jos! Shall we explain what is meant by "feeder time-share" and the Stratford Method?

Had #112 for the yard this afternoon: Anna's Hummingbird! Don't know how often they're at this elevation here in AZ but it was sure nice of it to drop by. Haven't seen this species since moving here from southern California 4 years ago. Was going to take down the nectar feeder yesterday as we haven't had any hummers for a few days, so am glad I changed my mind. Female prerogative, you know.

This is the list here, and the barn owl was only seen the first time this year. A real treat, and during the early evening.

We have no flyovers, just birds that live here during some part of the year. The Flame Robin for example is the harbinger of winter, and when spring comes they are gone, returning late autumn.

We are on 40 acres, a cleft with a gully, and two hills down to a little reasonably open country. Mainly eucalypt forest. With some exotic [European] trees, Tagasaste hedgerows, and other plants that we planted over the years. An old gold mining area which was denuded in the late 1800's early 1900's to feed the boilers and timber the shafts. Then the graziers came in with sheep, trying to make living they expected rather than what the country could supply. This overstocking meant the sheep ate even the unpalatable and almost toxic eucalypt seedlings.

The birds? Who would know where they went or came back from again, after there were trees growing and large enough to make them feel comfortable.

There are no trees here older than 90 years.

The beauty is that we are rich in birdlife. Especially the honeyeaters. They are ubiquitous and came in great number after we planted the Tagasaste. The flowers of which they tap into constantly. The Bronze Wing pigeons are new immigrants, and only arrived after the Tagasaste trees had time to grow and seed. The hard coated seed is available on the ground all year round for them now, in this rather dry climate. So we have 6 birds, assuming three pairs here all year round. But they have only been here for about 15 years. Possibly an infrequent and shy visitor prior to that, but never observed.

Brown Falcon
Emu
Grebe or Dabchick
Black Shouldered Kite
Nankeen Kestrel
Wedge Tailed Eagle
Brown Goshawk
Bronzewing Pigeon
Wonga Pigeon
Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo
Gang Gang Cockatoos
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
King Parrot
Crimson Rosella
Eastern Rosella
Pallid Cuckoo
Bronze Cuckoo
Tawny Frogmouth
Peregrine Falcon
Galah
Kookaburra
Rainbow Bee Eaters
Sacred Kingfisher
Lyrebird
Brown Tree Creeper
Fairy Wren
Striated Pardalote
Spotted Pardalote
White Browed Scrub Wren
Brown Thornbill
Yellow Rumped Thornbill
Red Wattlebird
Yellow Faced Honeyeater
White Eared Honeyeater
Yellow Tufted Honeyeater
White Plumed Honeyeater
White Naped Honeyeater
Crescent Honeyeater
Eastern Spinebill
Flame Robin
Scarlet Robin
Eastern Yellow Robin
Jacky Winter
Crested Shrike Tit
Grey shrike Thrush
Golden Whistler
Rufous Whistler
Grey Fantail
Willie Wagtail
Restless Flyctcher
Magpie Lark or Mud Lark
Satin Bower Bird
Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike
Dusky Wood Swallow
Magpie
Pied Currawong
Australian Raven or Crow
White Winged Chough
Welcome Swallow
Richards Pipit
European Goldfinch
Diamond Firetail Finch
Red Browed Finch
Mistletoe Bird
Silver eye
Bassian Thrush
Spotted Quail Thrush
Pied Cormorant
Black Duck
Wood Duck or Teal
White Headed Heron
White Faced Heron
Plover
Grey Butcher Bird
Barn Owl

Well my desire to get up to 100 this spring didn't pan out with exactly zero new birds showing up however fall has added 2 new birds with Merlin and Bald Eagle being added to sneak me up to 98 - shame the Eagle didn't wait around a couple of birds to make it the cool 100th.

Luke - here's the full list (note the lack of empids - I see them in the yard but do they never even call - although pretty confident on having both Least and Willow/Alder they don't go in unless ID is 100%:

Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Common Merganser
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Bald Eagle
Sharp-Shinned Hawk
Coopers Hawk
Broad-Winged Hawk
Red-Shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Merlin
Wild Turkey
Herring Gull
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Barred Owl
Eastern Screech Owl
Common Nighthawk
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern-Wood Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Great-crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Philadelphia Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Tufted Titmouse
Black-capped Chickadee
Brown Creeper
White-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Winter Wren
Carolina Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Wood Thrush
Veery
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-Winged Warbler
Golden-Winged Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Chestnut-Sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Black-Throated Blue Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Black-Throated Green Warbler
Bay-Breasted Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Pine Warbler
Palm Warbler
Worm-Eating Warbler
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Rose-Breasted Grosbeak
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Red-Winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
Purple Finch
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch

Rhizanthella said:

.
.
Red-capped Parrot
Western Rosella
Twenty-eight Parrot
Elegant Parrot
Laughing Kookaburra
.
.
Tree Martin
Silvereye (30)

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Rhizanthella, when I saw your list I wondered "what is a Twenty-eight Parrot"! I thought maybe you were just listing 28 other parrots.

Through "googling" I did find that there is a species named "Twenty-eight Parrot", so called because its call sounds like "28". Interesting!

For those of you reading this who might like to see a photo of this bird click here

Oh, I just took a quick look at the Gallery here on BF and noticed that you have a photo of the Twenty-eight Parrot posted there.

The scientic name you give with your photo is Barnardius zonarius.

There is a photo in the Bird Database of Barnardius zonarius, and the name given is Port Lincoln Ringneck. Is this just another name for the same bird?

Since my last post on 9 September and returning from a three week vacation in North America (see Vacational Trip Reports) I have seen in or from my Burgundy garden the following:

Common Crane (lucky enough to live under their migratory flyway to the south)
Coal Tit
Mistle Thrush
Brambling
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

The last two were both seen today and in total I've seen 48 birds in or around the garden. Crested Tit and Hawfinch are still around.

From a few years at my current address, which is on the very outskirts of B'ham, on the Worcestershire border, a 5 min walk to the countryside...

1. Robin
2. Wood Pigeon
3. Collared dove
4. Blue tit
5. Great tit
6. Coal tit
7. Long-tailed tit
8. Blackcap
9. Blackbird
10. Mistle thrush
11. Bull finch
12. Chaffinch
13. Goldfinch
14. Greenfinch
15. Nuthatch
16. Town Pigeon
17. Kestrel
18. Peregrine
19. Sparrow Hawk
20. Sparrow
21. Starling
22. Crow
23. Magpie
24. Jay
25. Great Spotted Woodpecker
26. Dunnock
27. Wren
28. Grey partridge
29. Herring Gull
30. Black headed gull
31. Swift
32. Swallow
33. Song Thrush
34. Jackdaw
35. Buzzard (which soared seemingly miles up, past one day)

Those in italics have only been seen once (or twice for the sparrow hawk & blackcap).

I think we have to accept that the USA is larger than the UK and has a much larger bird population. Comparing it with Europe would be more appropriate. I have recently visited the St Lucia wetlands on the east coast of South Africa. In an area of just 125 square miles over 500 species of birds are known to have nested. Now that is something.

To solve the argument over what birds to count and whether to count overflying ones, and comparing one country with another why not work on a much more even playing field, and just count those birds which have actually nested in the garden? I live in a tiny rural village in South Cambridgeshire in England. The garden is 3.4 acres in size and admittedly does have a tributary of the River Cam running through it. It is protected by five Border Terriers who make short work of any cat which dares to intrude.
Since we moved here in June 1996 the following species are known to have nested and produced young in the garden:
Mallard
Red-legged Partridge
Pheasant
Moorhen
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Little Owl
Green Woodpecker
House Martin
Pied Wagtail
Starling
Magpie
Jackdaw
Wren
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Mistle Thrush
Blue Tit
Great Tit
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Spotted Flycatcher

The trouble is ...

baillieswells said:

I think we have to accept that the USA is larger than the UK and has a much larger bird population. Comparing it with Europe would be more appropriate. I have recently visited the St Lucia wetlands on the east coast of South Africa. In an area of just 125 square miles over 500 species of birds are known to have nested. Now that is something.

To solve the argument over what birds to count and whether to count overflying ones, and comparing one country with another why not work on a much more even playing field, and just count those birds which have actually nested in the garden? I live in a tiny rural village in South Cambridgeshire in England. The garden is 3.4 acres in size and admittedly does have a tributary of the River Cam running through it. It is protected by five Border Terriers who make short work of any cat which dares to intrude.
Since we moved here in June 1996 the following species are known to have nested and produced young in the garden:
Mallard
Red-legged Partridge
Pheasant
Moorhen
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Little Owl
Green Woodpecker
House Martin
Pied Wagtail
Starling
Magpie
Jackdaw
Wren
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Mistle Thrush
Blue Tit
Great Tit
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Spotted Flycatcher

Click to expand...

The trouble with counting only birds that nest is that it would greatly favor people with large gardens. I have a tiny back garden and a smallish front one, and so I'm unlikely to have many nesting birds. However, I can attract a reasonable number of species by providing food and water.

Jeff

The other problem with counting only nesting birds is that even with a comparatively large "yard" (2.5 acres), we have very few nesting species because of our elevation (7,000 ft.). However, we do get a fair variety of migrants who utilize the feeders and water but only on a seasonal basis. And even of the species that are in this area year-round, again very few actually nest on our property.

However, having said that, a yard list is like a person's life list: It's whatever you want it to be. For me, the fun of keeping a list of all birds seen and wanting to know what others are seeing in their yards/gardens is that it encourages observation skills (so that vagrants are more easily spotted); it's fun to learn what others use as feeders and water features to 'lure' the birds in for a closer look; and what kinds of foods are being offered. I've learned soooooo much from this and other threads, almost on a daily basis, and has helped me fine-tune some of my feeding practices.

I think I've mentioned this before, but I believe the size of a person's yard/garden list also has to do with how much time is spent actually observing. I don't work away from home, so I undoubtedly see a wider variety of species, especially migrants, than do others who may only get to look at their yard a few minutes before and after work or on weekends.

Bottom line for me: It's just fun to see what's going on around the world at other people's feeders. Not as a competition thing (unless that's what you want it to be ) but just because I'm a nosy ol' broad and am curious about what all the rest of you are seeing at home. :t:

Been in our house for just a tad over a year. Got a garden tick a few days ago with Lesser Redpoll!!! Hoping to add Brambling & Siskin this winter. Came within 100 feet of getting Quail 'on my garden' list, in nearby fields - ohh, sooo close!!
This years garden highlight was Cuckoo (which was in the garden, not flying over!!).
My wife saw a Red Kite fly over at the start of the year, I was birding in N.Wales at the time (& I never saw a single Red Kite!!).
Garden List incl. flyovers is 42 species.

I'm on 138 from my house - in two and a half years. I've been away at work for about half of that....

Before I read this post I set up a page on my website that asked the same question - but which has proved considerably less popular than this thread!

Glad you've joined in, Julian! :t:

I hit #113 with today's Sage Thrasher who visited twice in the morning. This was also a lifer for me, but it was just cool to see such a good bird at this elevation and especially at this time of year. Totally unexpected. As was the Yellow-rumped Warbler that showed up as well. Must be the warm weather we've suddenly started having -- nearly 16 C. today! Unreal.

I only have 20 by 30 feet of garden to play with, so my fly-overs are a vital part of garden listing! About 13 species have actually touched down inside the limits, of which Grey Wagtail is about the "best" (all birds are good).

The total in/seen from list is 92 and includes Waxwing and Black Kite, although more regular spring and autumn fly-overs are Peregrine, Honey Buzzard and Hobby. Whinchat, Hawfinch and Spotted Flycatcher have passed through, and the brook just outside has donated Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Mandarin and Grey Heron.

A typical full morning watch will give me 30 to 40 species depending on the time of year, and in autumn some spectacular migration can be seen - 1757 Woodpigeons in an hour last November springs to mind at once.

As I stated in a previous post I do count "flyovers" and I had one the other day.

#135. A Cackling Goose flew over over our yard in the company of eight Canada Geese.

We live in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

Shamefully, only 26:

Red-tailed Hawk
Mourning Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tufted Titmouse
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-winged Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Hey, why "shamefully"? Most of us had "only" 26 once. I'd give my eyeteeth to see a few of your birds anywhere; would be lifers (catbird, blue-winged warbler, red-bellied woodie and ruby-throated hummer). Can you tell I haven't done much eastern US birding?

Katy Penland said:

Hey, why "shamefully"? Most of us had "only" 26 once. I'd give my eyeteeth to see a few of your birds anywhere; would be lifers (catbird, blue-winged warbler, red-bellied woodie and ruby-throated hummer). Can you tell I haven't done much eastern US birding?

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Haha, thanks Katy. Of course, you live in Arizona, the absolute motherload SW state. Well, I guess my list isn't shameful per se, my yard is just very selective. For example, there are Hairy Woodpeckers all around CT, but because of the Red-bellieds in my neighborhood, they don't come anywhere near it. I believe the issue is with how they feed - Red-bellieds rip off the bark that Hairys feed underneath. Anyway, put a whole buncha stories like that together, and you get my yard. :-\ Wouldn't trade it though! ;-)