Combined totals for all years, just under 85% of species have actually set foot on my plot, about 15% in airspace, e.g. geese migrating over, House Martens, etc. Broadly similar so far this year.
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Garden (Yard) List 2014 (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter halftwo
- Start date
KenM
Well-known member
So far interesting! with more to come? Am not surprised with RyanI's ratio of 3:1, flyovers/pasts being the ''dominant'', as an extreme location.
Joss's skyscape presumably limited, due to being within a heavily wooded area?...might be good to get more returns from more diverse locations. One might then be able to work out a mean average for comparable sites, albeit, that it wouldn't be very accurate, due to the lie of the land being different at each site (unless you had two ''neighbourly'' players both putting in similar hours).
For e.g. my site is distinctly biased towards woodland birds (at the poorer end of Western Europe), however with ratios of occurrence ''within'' and ''out'' being almost equal on an all time basis, it would be good to compare like with like.
Joss's skyscape presumably limited, due to being within a heavily wooded area?...might be good to get more returns from more diverse locations. One might then be able to work out a mean average for comparable sites, albeit, that it wouldn't be very accurate, due to the lie of the land being different at each site (unless you had two ''neighbourly'' players both putting in similar hours).
For e.g. my site is distinctly biased towards woodland birds (at the poorer end of Western Europe), however with ratios of occurrence ''within'' and ''out'' being almost equal on an all time basis, it would be good to compare like with like.
The Falcon
Registered Birder
Last night I was listening for owls (specifically Eastern Screech) and managed to get a Long-eared (giving it's 'whoo' call), and a Woodcock giving it's nasal peent call, both FOY for me.
100. American Woodcock
101. Long-eared Owl
This morning there was a couple migrants:
102. Yellow Warbler - a nice male.
103. American Redstart - another nice male.
100. American Woodcock
101. Long-eared Owl
This morning there was a couple migrants:
102. Yellow Warbler - a nice male.
103. American Redstart - another nice male.
No limited skyscape - though wooded in one direction, open meadow to the other - I view over a very nice area. Most of recent days, I have simply spent reclining in a deckchair scanning the skies.
On any given day, certainly a far greater proportion of raptors for example will be fly-overs, but three factors influence the overall 'in' proportion:
a) Of 162 species recorded, passerines obviously account for the bulk and virtually none of these are merely fly-overs.
b) Though fly-overs might dominate on a daily basis, almost everything lands eventually.
c) Size. Buy a big enough 'garden' and you can't see little birds beyond the boundaries, hence everything must be 'in'
The Falcon
Registered Birder
104. Common Yellowthroat
105. Scarlet Tanager
106. Warbling Vireo
105. Scarlet Tanager
106. Warbling Vireo
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birdsandbugs
Shelter Island Nature Guy
51. Barn Swallow-5/7
52. Eastern Kingbird-5/7
53. Northern Parula-5/8
52. Eastern Kingbird-5/7
53. Northern Parula-5/8
joannec
Well-known member
Just worked it out for this year so far: 27 in and 35 over or heard only which is 43.5% seen in the garden. My garden has 'big skies' and I can see pretty far which could explain the lower than 50% actually in.
KenM
Well-known member
Your ratio of "in" and "out", the relative big skies, and a rear aspect, no doubt contributes to my, not too dissimilar result. I think more comparisons with "regular" sites might be interesting.
Larry Lade
Moderator
39. Eastern Wood-Pewee
Richard Prior
Halfway up an Alp
I've just done the same calculation (after two new ones today, both 'froms' rather than 'ins'), and I'm at 41.6% in the garden. Like Joanne, I've a lot of sky, here we're perched on the edge of a plateau at 3,600 ft - behind us the forested slopes go up to the mountain ridge which is 6,600ft asl. In front the land slopes sharply downto the distantly visible Lac Leman (Lake Geneva if you're Swiss!).If I only had a Hubble-type 'scope I could get ducks etc on the lake on my Garden List
. I would expect the 'in' birds percentage to increase as the year goes on,as the garden becomes more interesting (leaf and flower growth=insects), but I may be wrong in that expectation, we'll see.
Meantime, today's news:
63 Whinchat
64 Honey Buzzard
The fields by the house are a regular stopping place for migrating Whinchat each May, Honey Buzzard is a day later than my earliest, but the real surprise was that for the first time in 8 springs here, I had flocks, 45 Bunny Hazards migrated past in half an hour, it took me back to my days in Lebanon(almost)!
Richard
KenM
Well-known member
Richard...Oh! for a Bunny Hazard, 45 migrating past is obscene! Perhaps one day for me? However I can certainly recommend Lac Leman for Pernis apivorus, here's one of two, that I shot heading South in August last year, (a lifetimes best ever views for me!, thought they looked un Buzzard like, more akin to a Harrier..certainly in unwavering direct flight, of the flap-flap glide mode).
Attachments
Richard Prior
Halfway up an Alp
Ken....It was an amazing half an hour to be sure, I've never seen more than 3 together here before, I remember a few years back the influx one autumn in the UK when there were groups of HBs over London and then at Beachy Head, I was lucky to see a few come in off the sea at Filey that week. With their tiny head and long tail when gliding they do look a bit Harrier-like it's true.
Just to rub it in, I've seen another one of my returning regulars this morning:
65 Red-backed Shrike
KenM
Well-known member
G-r-r-r-r! :-C
The Falcon
Registered Birder
Finally! Quite a few migrants this morning in the yard!
107. Chestnut-sided Warbler
108. Lincoln's Sparrow - Only see a couple a year in the yard if I'm lucky.
109. Spotted Sandpiper - flyover.
110. Chimney Swift - flyover.
111. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
112. Yellow-throated Vireo
113. Red-eyed Vireo
114. Tennessee Warbler
115. Nashville Warbler
116. Magnolia Warbler
117. Blackburnian Warbler
107. Chestnut-sided Warbler
108. Lincoln's Sparrow - Only see a couple a year in the yard if I'm lucky.
109. Spotted Sandpiper - flyover.
110. Chimney Swift - flyover.
111. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
112. Yellow-throated Vireo
113. Red-eyed Vireo
114. Tennessee Warbler
115. Nashville Warbler
116. Magnolia Warbler
117. Blackburnian Warbler
The Falcon
Registered Birder
Just heard a Northern Parula singing in front yard brings me up to 118 for the year now.
The Falcon
Registered Birder
This afternoon I took a little walk and found a:
119. White-crowned Sparrow
119. White-crowned Sparrow
decidedly cool over the last days, still a little migration and new arrivals ...lot more Common Whitethroats today and the first Golden Oriole and Thrush Nightingales singing. One Osprey too.
101. Thrush Nightingale.
102. Golden Oriole.
101. Thrush Nightingale.
102. Golden Oriole.
