A Garden List (1 Viewer)

[foxwood]

Revised list

01 blue tit
02 great tit
03 long-tailed tit
04 coal tit
05 woodpigeon
06 rook
07 carrion crow
08 jackdaw
09 magpie
10 greenfinch
11 goldfinch
12 chaffinch
13 house sparrow
14 wren
15 robin
16 blackbird
17 dunnock
18 nuthatch
19 starling
20 mallard
21 moorhen
22 collared dove
23 pied wagtail
24 great spotted woodpecker

At last a woodpecker! (seen last week) :t:

Also seen recently was a kingfisher on the pond over the road but although I saw it through the rear bedroom window I don't think I can count that one, can I? :C Maybe it'll drop in one day.

Mike

 

[foxwood]

I can't believe that this thread has been on here for six months and I have not seen it.

Hi Jim

Glad you've found us! That's a very impressive list you've got there. :t: As you say, having farmland on your doorstep so to speak does help to attract the birds. Keep us updated about any further sightings. You'll make me even more jealous! |:d| Nice garden by the way.

Regards

Mike

 

[joannec]

OK. Here is my garden list which is rural, adjoining fields with woods nearby. *'s are seen from garden or flyovers. Everything else seen on at least one occasion actually in the garden, making 50 actually in the garden and a further 23 seen from the garden or as flyovers, total 73.:t:

Mute swan *
Graylag goose *
Canada goose *
Mallard
Phesant
Cormorant*
Grey heron
Honey Buzzard*
Sparrowhawk
C Buzzard*
Kestrel
Hobby*
Hen Harrier*
Peregrine*
Moorhen
Herring gull*
Great black-backed gull*
Black headed gull*
Stock Dove*
Wood pigeon
Collared dove
Cuckoo*
Little owl* (heard only)
Barn owl*
Tawny owl
Nightjar* (heard only)
Swift*
kingfisher*
Green woodpecker
Great spotted woodpecker
Lesser spotted woodpecker
Woodlark*
Skylark*
Swallow
House martin*
Meadow pipit*
Grey wagtail
Pied wagtail
Wren
Dunnock
Robin
Nightingale
Blackbird
Fieldfare
Song thrush
Redwing
Mistlethrush
Whitethroat
Garden Warbler
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Spotted flycatcher
Goldcrest
Willow warbler
Long-tailed tit
Blue tit
Great tit
Coal tit
Treecreeper
Nuthatch
Jay
Magpie
Jackdaw
Rook
C Crow*
Starling
House sparrow
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Siskin
Linnet
Bullfinch
Yellowhammer

Joanne

 

[foxwood]

Hi Joanne

Thanks for sharing your list. I think I'll have to move to Sussex! (my niece lives in Hove) Seeing all 3 woodpeckers is special. I've only recently added the GS to my list!

Up to now I've restricted my list to those species actually landing in my garden but even with flyovers I've got a long way to go to match your total! ||

Still, I've recently retired so I've got more time for my birdwatching (don't tell the wife!)

Kind regards

Mike

 

[joannec]

Hi Joanne
Seeing all 3 woodpeckers is special.

Mike

Have to admit, Mike, that the Lesser Spot was only once, and a lifer too!

Joanne

 

[foxwood]

Have to admit, Mike, that the Lesser Spot was only once, and a lifer too!

Joanne

I'm still impressed :t:

Mike

 

[conkerama]

My large-ish garden in a small-ish, rural-ish town attracted lots of birds until a new estate for cat lovers was built next door. I've spent the past couple of years on moggie-watch and have managed to put off most of them by combining sonic deterrents, prickly sticks on cat lookout-points, blocking holes in hedges with prickly sticks, leaping out of the back door hissing, and complaining to myself in extremely loud industrial language whenever I step in something dreadful. I have just started feeding the birds again and the list so far is:

Blackbird
House sparrow
Blue tit
Great tit
Long-tailed tit
Robin
Magpie
Collared dove
Wren
Goldfinch
Blackcap!

I'm hoping the fieldfares will return this winter, and am on constant lookout for songthrushes, which seem to be the main victims of the cat-invasion.

 

[foxwood]

"a new estate for cat lovers was built next door. I've spent the past couple of years on moggie-watch and have managed to put off most of them by combining sonic deterrents, prickly sticks on cat lookout-points, blocking holes in hedges with prickly sticks, leaping out of the back door hissing, and complaining to myself in extremely loud industrial language whenever I step in something dreadful."

Hi conkerama

Am I just imagining it or do you not like cats! Although I have no cat of my own I do have those belonging to neighbours spending time in my garden but fortunately they are, in the main, of an advanced age (the cats not the neighbours) and seem happier sleeping in my greenhouse (the cats again) rather than bothering to chase my birds!

The blackcap is a species I have yet to see in my garden but I remain hopeful.

Regards

Mike

 

[covenite]

Staffs again - small garden in estate on edge of farmland near M54. Some feeder activity but often disturbed thanks to regular squirrel visit to my feeders and table. However, we did have a bird of prey fly over but not sure what it was (see below). Over last couple of days I have counted:

Greenfinch: around 30
Blue Tit: 2
Blackbird: 2
Long-Tailed Tit: 6
Goldfinch: 2
Chaffinch: 2
Coal Tit: 2
Collared Dove: 3
Wren: 1
Magpie: 2
Wood pigeon: 2
Robin: 1
Starlings: 6

And one much rarer visitor: it landed on next door neighbour's far fence but didn't stay around long enough for me to get a good look (I saw it from out of a bedroom window). It was a bird of prey roughly the size of a pigeon, some obvious white on face and throat, darkish chest and darker back but that's as much as I can say; overall it looked much darker than a kestrel. It sat for a few seconds then flew off low across my garden and then I lost sight of it; flight was fast, tail seemed long and fairly narrow and paler than it's back. From what I could see it's wings were fairly narrow and quite long. Our garden backs on to other gardens in a kind of circle, enclosed by houses, mostly fairly open but ours is one of four houses in a row that have a lot of trees, some quite tall. There have been very few birds around the gardens since...! Looking at my books the closest I can see is Hobby?

 

[TomSmith]

It was a bird of prey roughly the size of a pigeon, some obvious white on face and throat, darkish chest and darker back but that's as much as I can say; overall it looked much darker than a kestrel. It sat for a few seconds then flew off low across my garden and then I lost sight of it; flight was fast, tail seemed long and fairly narrow and paler than it's back. From what I could see it's wings were fairly narrow and quite long. [...] Looking at my books the closest I can see is Hobby?

Hobbies are summer birds; Merlin sounds more likely.

 

[gayleboa]

I live in a flat with no garden but the bedroom window overlooks an old (17 / 18th century) graveyard which is closed off the public. There are a number of old trees and some bushes for cover. We have a couple of feeders at the window and the bird count has rocketed since we hung them out.
Here's our list:

REGULAR
1. chaffinch (10+)
2. greenfinch (10+)
3. robin
4. dunnock
5. blue tit (2-3)
6. great tit (3-4)
7. collared dove
8. jackdaw (about 20 stop off every morning and again before dusk)
9. grey wagtail
10. blackbird (3-6)
11. song thrush

OCCASIONAL
12. black headed gull
13. common gull
14. house sparrow
15. wren
16. magpie
17. starlings
18. woodpigeon

ONCE
19. tawny owl
20. redstart

Have only been watching and recording regularly for the last 2 months - every Sunday for a couple of hours as I'm out during daylight hours the rest of the week - so fingers crossed some other interesting species turn up. The redstart was a bit of surprise last September - a first for me! And I didn't even have to leave the house!

 

[LesserOfGoldfinches]

I find acting slightly territorial with cats seems to work. I just chase them out of the yard making scratching motions and what is believed to be natural human noises (snarling, snorting, grunts), then they seem to never come back. A few of them actually still act friendly when I'm in the front yard and have come up for attention. We have literally tons of strays, no home or anything. Then again even when they do get a bird, I actually believe strays are instinctively hunting, I just don't buy it with domestics.

 

[June Atkinson]

Visitors in the snow

We regularly have blackbirds, but this week I counted 16, which is almost a record! They love not only the seed, but the bananas and halved apples which I put out.
We have also had a male Pheasant for almost a month.........seems to be living in the shrubbery. Attached is a photo of him in the snow, poor thing!!

 

[Jaff]

I've posted this list elsewhere but I'll stick it up again for showing offs sake . Let's see, Birds actually landing within the confines of our property:

1. Grey Heron
2. Mallard.
3. Sparrowhawk
4. Kestrel
5. A possible Perigrine a long time ago (eating a pigeon).
6. Common Pheasant.
7. Black-headed Gull
8. Herring Gull
9. Woodpigeon
10. Collared Dove.
11. GS Woodpecker
12. Pied Wagtail.
13. Grey Wagtail
14. Wren
15. Dunnock
16. Robin.
17. Song Thrush
18. Mistle Thrush
19. Redwing
20. Fieldfare
21. Blackbird
22. Blackcap
23. Willow Warbler/Chiffchaff (it was one them, think it was a Chiff)
24. Goldcrest
25. Great Tit
26. Coal Tit
27. Blue Tit
28. Long-tailed Tit
29. Magpie
30. Jay
31. Jackdaw
32. Starling
33. House Sparrow
34. Tree Sparrow
35. Chaffinch
36. Brambling
37. Goldfinch
38. Greenfinch
39. Siskin
40. Reed Bunting
41. Ring-Necked Parakeet (or Rose-Ringed Parakeet if you prefer that)
42. Red-legged Partridge just a couple of weeks ago (I think they were hiding from the farmers).

Fly-throughs at about tree height
42. Tawny Owl
43. Barn Owl
44. Cormorant
45. Barn Swallow
46. House Martin
47. Swift
48. Lesser Black-backed Gull
49. Carrion Crow
50. Rook
51. Buzzard
52. Canada Geese
53. Whooper Swans
54. Mute Swans
55. Greylag Geese

And Flyovers but I won't count em
Pinkfeet Geese
Whoopers again so maybe Bewick's too!
Oystercatcher
Redshank
Lapwing
Shelduck
Great Black-backed Gull
Curlew

Don't know whether or not to count these. When the house was built but the garden was still little more then a field my dad has assured me in the past we had Lapwing, Snipe and Grey Partridge in our "field". There are more species that have been viewed from the house but then we're just getting silly.

Bogey birds are Bullfinch and Nuthatch. Phew, that's it! Incl. pic of the garden as viewed from my window.
Jaff

 

[oldgiteggy]

Busy yesterday...

blackbirds
magpies
jackdaws
nuthatch
long tail tits
coal tits
blue tits
great tits
greenfinches
bull finches
chaffinch
greater spotted woodpecker, m
robin
dunnock
wren

...all within a hour. Have to fill up the feeders!

 

[joseph123]

As a new birder my list is less than impressive but i'll include it anyway.
1 blue tit
2 great tit
3 coal tit
4 nuthatch
5 house sparrow
6 green finch
7 starling
8 chaffinch
9 pied wagtail
10 magpie
11 jackdaw
12 may of glimpsed a tree sparrow once or twice

Thats it hopefully it will expand greatly in the near future!

 

[Kezza]

As a new birder my list is less than impressive but i'll include it anyway.
1 blue tit
2 great tit
3 coal tit
4 nuthatch
5 house sparrow
6 green finch
7 starling
8 chaffinch
9 pied wagtail
10 magpie
11 jackdaw
12 may of glimpsed a tree sparrow once or twice
Thats it hopefully it will expand greatly in the near future!

Ahh but it is quality not quantity that matters! I would be over the moon if I got Tree Sparrow or Nuthatch on my garden list. Always exciting to see a new visitor to the garden and I'm sure you'll have plenty of those over the coming months.

 

[sekororo]

My Garden List

My Garden Bird List 2006/7 updated
Birds seen more than 3 times in garden make it on the list
(with Roberts numbers)

1. 71 Cattle Egret
2. 81 Hamerkop
3. 94 Hadeda Ibis
4. 127 Black-shouldered Kite
5. 128 African Cuckoo Hawk
6. 136 Booted Eagle
7. 169 Gymnogene
8. 171 Peregrine Falcon
9. 172 Lanner Falcon
10. 203 Helmeted Guineafowl
11. 352 Red-eyed Dove
12. 354 Cape Turtle Dove
13. 355 Laughing Dove
14. 358 Emerald-spotted Wood-dove
15. 359 Tambourine Dove
16. 361 African Green Pigeon
17. 373 Grey Lourie
18. 382 Jacobin’s Cuckoo
19. 385 Klaas’s Cuckoo
20. 386 Diederik Cuckoo
21. 391 Burchell’s Coucal
22. 392 Barn Owl
23. 401 Spotted Eagle Owl
24. 409 Mozambique Nightjar
25. 424 Speckled Mousebird
26. 432 African Pygmy Kingfisher
27. 433 Woodland Kingfisher
28. 435 Brown-hooded Kingfisher
29. 437 Striped Kingfisher
30. 438 European Bee-eater
31. 444 Little Bee-eater
32. 451 African Hoopoe
33. 452 Red-billed Woodhoopoe
34. 457 African Grey Hornbill
35. 458 Red-billed Hornbill
36. 459 Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
37. 464 Black-collared Barbet
38. 473 Crested Barbet
39. 475 Scaly-throated Honeyguide
40. 487 Bearded Woodpecker
41. 522 Wire-tailed Swallow
42. 527 Lesser-striped Swallow
43. 538 Black Cuckooshrike
44. 541 Fork-tailed Drongo
45. 545 Black-headed Oriole
46. 548 Pied Crow
47. 568 Black-eyed Bulbul
48. 576 Kurrichane Thrush
49. 580 Groundscraper Thrush
50. 613 White-browed Scrub-robin
51. 655 Green-capped Eremomela
52. 672 Rattling Cisticola
53. 683 Tawny-flanked Prinia
54. 689 Spotted Flycatcher
55. 696 Pallid Flycatcher
56. 701 Chin-spot Batis
57. 710 Paradise-flycatcher
58. 711 African Pied Wagtail
59. 713 Cape Wagtail
60. 733 Red-backed Shrike
61. 740 Puffback
62. 744 Black-crowned Tchagra
63. 748 Orange-breasted Bush Shrike
64. 751 Grey-headed Bush Shrike
65. 753 White Helmeted Shrike
66. 761 Plum-coloured Starling
67. 764 Cape Glossy Starling
68. 791 Scarlet-chested Sunbird
69. 801 House Sparrow
70. 804 Southern Grey-headed Sparrow
71. 807 Thick-billed Weaver
72. 810 Spectacled Weaver
73. 811 Spotted-backed Weaver
74. 819 Red-headed Weaver
75. 821 Red-billed Quelea
76. 829 White-winged Widow
77. 831 Red-collared Widow
78. 840 Blue-billed Firefinch
79. 842 Red-billed Firefinch
80. 844 Blue Waxbill
81. 855 Cut-throat Finch
82. 857 Bronze Mannikin
83. 858 Red-backed Mannikin
84. 860 Pin-tailed Whydah
85. 862 Paradise Whydah
86. 864 Black Widow Finch
87. 867 Steel-blue Widow Finch
88. 869 Yellow-eyed Canary
89. 884 Golden-breasted Bunting
90. 885 Cape Bunting
91. 886 Rock Bunting

Fly-overs:
1. 55 White-breasted Cormorant
2. 58 Reed Cormorant
3. 63 Black headed Heron
4. 99 White-faced Duck
5. 102 Egyptian Geese
6. 115 Knob-billed Duck
7. 142 Brown Snake Eagle
8. 140 Martial Eagle
9. 417 Little Swift
10. 418 Alpine Swift
11. 529 Rock Martin
12. 940 Yellow-billed Kite

 

[yorkio]

Blue tit
Great tit
Coal tit
Long tailed tit
Chaffinch
Bullfinch
Greenfinch
Siskin
Song thrush
Blackbird
Jay
Magpie
Jackdaw
Dunnock
Great spotted woodpecker
Green woodpecker
Wood pigeon
Collared dove
Goldcrest
Wren
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Nuthatch
Treecreeper
Lesser redpoll
Pheasant
Sparrow hawk
Tawny owl
Grey wagtail
Redwing

If I was going to include birds I can see from the window, I'd add...

At tree top height

Red kite
Kestrel

Way up above

Swift
Swallow
House martin

From the look of it, I seem to be about the only Brit to be missing house sparrows and starlings from my list! I'd love to see a sparrow in my garden.

 

[DragonHeart]

As observed from spring last year until today:

Black-capped Chickadee - Two breeding pairs, constant visitors.
American Goldfinch - A small flock that expanded to about half a dozen by the end of summer.
White-breasted Nuthatch - A very entertaining pair who nested nearby. They spent most of every day in the yard, either at the feeders or checking over the trees.
Red-breasted Nuthatch - One adult.
Brown Creeper - Seemed to be a local adult, couldn't tell if there was more than one.
Tufted Titmouse - May have been a pair but I only ever saw one at a time.
House Finch - A small flock, only seen a couple of times. The local birds didn't appreciate them taking over the feeders and chased them off within a week.
Chipping Sparrow - One pair who came almost daily to the feeder.
White-throated Sparrow - A single adult, seen in the fall. It stopped by for one day then left. Hoping it comes back again if it did migrate further south.
Robin - Two pairs.
Scarlet Tanager - One male singing in the lilac, only saw it once but heard it often.
Northern Cardinal - One pair nesting in a neighbor's yard. Never saw the young, and the adults were nervous, usually taking off as soon as another bird came near.
Blue Jay - Had one breeding pair; never saw the whole flock.
Common Grackle - At most we've had about half a dozen. There's normally just one who stopped by every day in the summer after it figured out how to sit on a tube feeder.
American Crow - Local flock of six.
Northern Flicker - At least one adult, could not tell if it was red or yellow-shafted. I saw glimpses of it every few days in the summer. Haven't seen or heard it recently.
Downy Woodpecker - A pair.
Hairy Woodpecker - A pair.
Mourning Dove - A small flock of five or six who spent every afternoon going over every inch of the yard.
Mallard - An oddity, a female came to our yard for a couple of days. We have no pond or stream on or close to our property.
Wild Turkey - I have not personally seen these, but my mom took pictures of them. There is a local population and on a few occasions they've wandered through the yard.

I may have missed a few, as I'm going primarily by memory. A fairly decent diversity given the limitations of the property, I think.

~DragonHeart~