Garden/Yard List 2016 (1 Viewer)

[dantheman]

Forgot another one from yesterday -

24 White Wagtail

(c30 y'day, 100+ this evening on way to roost)

Today -

25 Magpie
26 Cormorant 3 flying south above the river
27 Mistle Thrush - 1 flew overhead (quite possibly a garden first - will have to check)
28 Grey Wagtail - 1 landed on neighbours roof

And then late afternoon, I had just climbed into the top of the Fig Tree to do some emergency pruning (before the whole thing started bursting into leaf) when the parent below exclaimed 'that looks like an egret' And it was -

29 Great White Egret

Definitely a garden tick! (And not a figment of my imagination either.) Flying north, reasonably high but the legs and feet especially noticeable (aside the size and flight jizz).

30 Greenfinch flock of 12+

One that got away - I was still up in the fig tree when a crest sp. flew past and into the hedge - just too far to work out which one it was (Firecrest more usual, but both do occur.)

B

 

[KenM]

Watch it, or I'll come over there and hit you with my walking stick.

You must be "zimmering" for a "flight" then.......:-O.

Very quiet here too (Snipe apart), a distinct lack of birds Thrushes, Finches etc seem to have evaporated, although frustratingly LSW, Firecrest and Treecreeper outback in the wood last week, all showing no sign from the house though. :-C

 

[KenM]

Two Canada Geese over at 9am......level pegging now H......49 it is.

Perhaps not surprising considering the birds history in the garden last Oct/Nov/Dec., never had one in February before.....Firecrest in the Ivy briefly at 4.15pm. no.50.

 

[halftwo]

Overtaken at a stroke!

Nice stuff aound nearby - Peregrine, pr of Little Owls, two Dippers, Sparrowhawk - but nowt from the garden.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Welcome, Jaberwocky. I have a feeling that anyone who has Muntjac & Roe Deer in their garden is going to have an impressive bird list.

Gales here today - & I'm not going to be home again most of the day.

Thanks for the welcome from everyone. My list is not that impressive though. I remember taking my eldest daughter to a bird ringing demonstration, it was being run by Chris Mead. He told me he had considered buying a house in the village but he thought all the surrounding arable fields made it a "birding desert".I thought at the time that was a little harsh but I know what he meant.
I have a total list of 84 after 36 years. 45 are probably bankers now, the others are made up from chance flyovers and a few that are no longer around.
The impressive ones, to me anyway, are a common redstart, black kite and ring ouzel, all in the garden and kingfisher and red kite once and peregrine twice as flyovers.

This years list increased by one last night at 11:30
42 Tawny Owl Calling from the ash tree in back garden.

I did get a completely new bird in the garden Tuesday. I can't add these though,two guinea fowl found the bird seed. I've been hearing them since last autumn and now know 4 were released with pheasants by the local shoot.

 

[Nutcracker]

I did get a completely new bird in the garden Tuesday. I can't add these though,two guinea fowl found the bird seed. I've been hearing them since last autumn and now know 4 were released with pheasants by the local shoot.

Now there's a thought - same source as the Pheasants. So equal status.

Tick the Guineafowl, or de-tick the Pheasants? 3

 

[Richard Prior]

Now there's a thought - same source as the Pheasants. So equal status.

Tick the Guineafowl, or de-tick the Pheasants? 3

Don't start, I'm desperate enough for Garden Year ticks up here as it is without wiping off 'my' Pheasant (which could of course be wild-bred, its appearance last November at the height of the chasse period a pure coincidence of course )

 

[Jabberwocky]

Now there's a thought - same source as the Pheasants. So equal status.

Tick the Guineafowl, or de-tick the Pheasants? 3

I'm not a fan of introduced wildlife but the pheasants do nest in the garden and bring young to feed on spilt seed. One nested in a flower bed under the living room window once. They are quite tame and even hang around when the greyhound is outside.

Maybe I'll count the guinea fowl when they do the same. Is it legal to release them in the Uk? I have my doubts.

 

[Larry Lade]

I once found a Chukar on a nest in one of the parks here in St. Joseph, Missouri. They do not occur here in Missouri (not even as a vagrant, accidental, etc.) so I assumed it was an escaped bird from some game farm somewhere in the area. I did not count it on my Missouri Bird List. *There were no eggs in the nest!

 

[Nutcracker]

Maybe I'll count the guinea fowl when they do the same. Is it legal to release them in the Uk? I have my doubts.

Probably is legal - plenty of poultry farms offer free-range guineafowl, and I'd think they are technically 'released' as well. I've certainly seen guineafowl roaming free on roadsides up to 2-3 fields away from their farms, with nothing to constrain them.

Maybe free-range chickens should also be considered 'tickable'?? :-O

 

[KenM]

Maybe free-range chickens should also be considered 'tickable'?? :-O

Now that really would be a "flight of fancy" :eek!:

 

[Larry Lade]

I know of a couple of places around here (St. Joseph, Missouri) that have peafowl roaming free around their yards. I do not think they have established any self-sustaining populations yet though!

* Oh, and yes, they also have guinea fowl and maybe there are a few "wild" ones running around, although I have not added any to my Missouri Bird List just yet!

 

[Richard Prior]

Enough of this chicken nonsense already, good job Larry doesn't live in Kentucky else we'd be calling him 'The Colonel'

Whilst scraping the snow and ice off the car at 05h45 this morning, I heard the local


37 Tawny Owl

hooting about half a mile away.

 

[halftwo]

It's about time my Tawnies & Little Owls were calling - but they'll sound out soon enough.

 

[halftwo]

A Pied Wagtail puts me on 50.

Bitter out today.

 

[KenM]

A Pied Wagtail puts me on 50.

Bitter out today.

Still need that H..."almost" less than annual here.....was wondering "what was keeping you".

 

[Nutcracker]

Bitter out today.

Still need that H...

It'd be better with an N . . . BitterN 3

 

[halftwo]

Listening for owls this evening and was surprised to see a Buzzard flying over in the near dark

51: Common Buzzard

 

[KenM]

Listening for owls this evening and was surprised to see a Buzzard flying over in the near dark

51: Common Buzzard

Into the lead......and with a Buzz! :-C

 

[halftwo]

And just now the distinctive song of a male

52: Tawny Owl