best birds seen whilst working (2 Viewers)

[angusmcoatup]

Obviously not rare but during the first few weeks of lockdown a pair of Blackcaps set up territory and nested in a small garden area in front of my office in a hospital department in North London. Also a Whitethroat, Firecrest & a couple of Chiffchaffs passed through in the second week of that March.
Kestrel, Sparrowhawks & Peregrines became more visible, and for the first time I could clearly hear them without the rumble of traffic.

 

[Bino Steve]

Side thread....." Best Bird seen right after you got fired for looking at the Best Bird you've seen while at work" !

 

[MikeInPA]

For a while I worked in an office in Peterborough and during a lunch break I walked 50 yards or so up the road to see a Black- throated Thrush munching on some cotoneaster bushes in this front garden.

 

[Prestdj]

some great replies

friday fitting windows on a house that was in the middle of nowhere 4 miles down a track at the top of the pennines

a group of starlings alerted me to a peregrine awesome birds best of all a hen harrier a nice ring tail heading to the local roost

 

[anonymousbirder]

Blackpoll warbler. Unfortunate circumstances. I wasn't even a birder, yet, but I found it outside my work building. It has flown into the glass. I took it to a local rescue, and it turnes out to be fine. Just stunned. They were able to return it to the same area later the same day.

 

[Andy Lakin]

I've worked with kids with special needs for c17 years and anything that gets them interested takes some beating. I did have Turtle Doves fairly regularly at one of the schools I worked at including one bird feeding within 10 feet of people walking by, mot your typical encounter! Also when I worked outside I used to have my lunch on the works van and had the odd bird feeding on the insects collected in the cobwebs around the wing mirrors watching the likes of Grey Wagtail feeding a couple of feet away takes some beating.

 

[dantheman]

Two male Black Redstarts in a territorial dispute in the gardens and rooftops where I was working yesterday in Helston, Cornwall. A bit of welcomed colour and action on a cold day working with cold stone and concrete! (The sun was out, but not in the corner I was in).

 

[KenM]

Although I wasn’t actually working I did leave work early one afternoon to dash down from Filton to Cheddar Gorge to tick a Wallcreeper.

Was that ‘78 Mike?

 

[KenM]

Running up the steep stairs at Tottenham CRT Rd.Tube station W1. exit on my way to work.
On the ascent….Centre Point was looming up out of a wall to wall blue sky…with a circa dozen Lapwings high, heading West.

 

[Steve Babbs]

I don't know if it counts as being a 'professional birder' so not allowed but I found a superb, displaying buff-breasted sandpiper while doing a wader survey for the RSPB in the Outer Hebrides.

 

[dantheman]

I don't know if it counts as being a 'professional birder' so not allowed but I found a superb, displaying buff-breasted sandpiper while doing a wader survey for the RSPB in the Outer Hebrides.

I wouldn't think it's allowed (eg I thought it wasn't re post #7), but hey, nice one ;-) (There should be a separate thread for birds found while bird-surveying/wardening etc perhaps ... )

 

[Steve Babbs]

I wouldn't think it's allowed (eg I thought it wasn't re post #7), but hey, nice one ;-) (There should be a separate thread for birds found while bird-surveying/wardening etc perhaps ... )

Not quite the same as leading bird tours but okay withdrawn. I found surprisingly little when doing bird surveys but I did co-find a collard pratincole while having a beach break while waiting for the correct tide times for one survey.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I did see Red-flanked Bluetail on my way to work recently. Twice.

 

[vergan]

Strictly excluding birds observed whith my "professional wildlife researcher hat", I have seen Emperor penguins while deploying and retrieving CTDs pretty south in east antarctica.

 

[opisska]

I have seen a great deal of interesting birds on work trips, because I always take time to go around and bird - and the trips are sometimes to pretty interesting locations - but that's a bit of cheating. However thanks to me occasionally working outdoors on telescope installations, I have seen quite a few nice birds literally with a screwdriver in hand - mostly in Argentina, because the site in Chile is in a really dead desert and there are only a few species on La Palma. In Argentina, we once even inadvertently trapped an American Barn Owl within the telescope enclosure for the day, but that I only saw on the webcam. A pair of American Kestrels traditionally nest in the adjacent building and I have a few pictures of them sitting on top of the telescope housing. My favorite birds of the site are Elegant Crested Tinamous, who sometimes just run around on the ground, but a good selection of "Monte" species do stop by to visit from time to time. The most exciting thing I ever saw working however was not a bird, but Liolaemus irregularis - a really obscure lizard with no other observations on iNat, which I had to ID based on a single research paper - this I saw while building site-monitoring infrastructure in northern Argentina.

 

[KenM]

Another “at work bird”, was delivering to a client in W1 off Tott.CRT.Rd. having to ascend a steep staircase to access the asphalt roof that I would cross to go down into his studio, which adjoined a private residence flat…in passing the chimney pots that were below me at roof height, I was blown away (not literally) by a Chiffchaff singing from the Geranium pots placed on the unused chimney! 😮

 

[MikeInPA]

Was that ‘78 Mike?

Hey Ken, I believe it was 78. Damn I’m an old fart, 45 years ago. 🤪

 

[MikeInPA]

I don't know if it counts as being a 'professional birder' so not allowed but I found a superb, displaying buff-breasted sandpiper while doing a wader survey for the RSPB in the Outer Hebrides.

Thats a real memory jogger. I was living in Leicester at the time and had to go down to Heathrow to pick up a package for work at the TWA customs area. Paul Lee accompanied me with a minor diversion via Graham Water to see a pair of Buff-breasted Sandpipers. Marvelous birds.

Chuckle! Reminds me of the long wait at the TWA freight area, people had carved into the wooden counter, TWA, The Wankers Airline, and This Waiting Aggravates amongst other equally witty sayings. That was a long, long while ago too.

 

[KenM]

Hey Ken, I believe it was 78. Damn I’m an old fart, 45 years ago. 🤪

My first twitch Mike!…and one I’ll never forget.👍

 

[Andy Lakin]

New one today, a Quail ran out from behind a hedge and was thinking about crossing the road (which was very busy). Luckily it changed its mind and ran back into the field it had come from! I went for a bird that had been reported for a couple of weeks after work the other day and dipped so this was very satisfying.