Garden/Yard List 2019 (2 Viewers)

[Richard Prior]

Whilst overshadowed by a few local rarities not far away from the patch such as Black Kite and Citrine Wagtail, the patch has also been quite good recently with amongst others a couple of Spotted Redshank, Grasshopper Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, Redstart, Whinchat, Garganey, etc all within a mile of home so I really spend little time looking from the house or garden.

However, whilst sat out last night shortly before dusk in the garden, a group of twenty Sand Martin (38) buzzed through towards somewhere to roost and this morning from the landing window on the adjacent drainage channel, a garden tick in the form of a Common Sandpiper (39) was being pushed along by a dog walker.

The stretch that is visible from the house is pretty limited so I have seen little on it from the house whereas the sightings from outside the garden include a far nicer selection.

All the best

Some very nice species there Paul all within a mile, by contrast we've seen just Tree Pipit and Treecreeper close by but not from the garden/house. Some compensation on Monday with a species which is already on the Garden List 2019 but was just a speck in the 'scope. Two of these monsters wandered down into the valley before thinking better of it and circling off high back to their mountain home, so a new one for the Photographed from the Garden List!

 

[Selsey Birder]

Some very nice species there Paul all within a mile, by contrast we've seen just Tree Pipit and Treecreeper close by but not from the garden/house. Some compensation on Monday with a species which is already on the Garden List 2019 but was just a speck in the 'scope. Two of these monsters wandered down into the valley before thinking better of it and circling off high back to their mountain home, so a new one for the Photographed from the Garden List!

Hi Rich,


Now that is what I call a Garden Bird - Wow !!


Ian

 

[Richard Prior]

Hi Rich,


Now that is what I call a Garden Bird - Wow !!


Ian

Hi Ian,

Next time I do a leg of lamb roast I'll put the bone in the garden, maybe they'll come even closer!

Glad you got the Serin I sent over to Sussex:t:

 

[Paul Chapman]

Richard

Very nice indeed.

Well that Lammergeier a couple of years back that was seen by the Severn Bridge & then refound in Devon probably came close....

All the best

 

[halftwo]

68: Willow Warbler

An obliging singer not too far away.

 

[KenM]

Out of the “wall to wall grey” past the window seemingly holding something in it’s bill, flew no.65 only the 3rd time in 36 years. Kingfisher!...not even on my radar as a possibility even with the river behind.

 

[jasperpatch]

Out of the “wall to wall grey” past the window seemingly holding something in it’s bill, flew no.65 only the 3rd time in 36 years. Kingfisher!...not even on my radar as a possibility even with the river behind.

Ooh, fabulous! I had momentary glimpses a couple of times whilst in the UK, always a joy - but as a garden bird? Fab!

 

[jasperpatch]

Having left Canada on April 2nd, with a year garden list of 20, I managed to clock up 27 species in Mum and Dad's garden (Norfolk, UK) in mornings/evenings around our explorations elsewhere! Ho hum.

Back home again now, and picking up the new spring arrivals slowly but surely. The chickadees took a couple of days to refind the feeders, but they don't seem to be holding a grudge now.

21. Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
22. Winter Wren (Heard)
23. Eastern Pheobe (checking out their regular nest spots on the house)
24. Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
25. Dark-eyed Junco - this was my first bird of the year in 2018. Crazy it took until late April to see one in the garden this year!

 

[KenM]

Jasper Hi, you mentioning Ruby-crowned Kinglet reminded me of my first encounters with the species on my first visit across the pond. First impressions were of a dull Goldcrest, until one day I came across one with it’s back to me...and the crown was “full-on”...not unlike the car in fronts brake light coming on in the rain, such intensity. :t:

 

[jasperpatch]

Jasper Hi, you mentioning Ruby-crowned Kinglet reminded me of my first encounters with the species on my first visit across the pond. First impressions were of a dull Goldcrest, until one day I came across one with it’s back to me...and the crown was “full-on”...not unlike the car in fronts brake light coming on in the rain, such intensity. :t:

A great description Ken! Yes, they are usually the duller bird, and being more vocal (they have a recognizable song which the gold-crowned kinglet doesn't seem to), they are easier to find too. But when you do get the flash of red, it really is cardinal bright. I managed to get a poor shot this morning, but I think it may be the first time I've managed to catch the red at all!

 

[KenM]

A good catch Jasper, regarding ''Full-on'' crests, our Firecrest is usually yellow crown striped, and sometimes has an orange tint, however I once shot a bird that really lived up to it's name. :t:

 

[Toby Tyke]

72= Barn owl.
Fly over as I was putting the car away last night.
Got a pair nesting 400yds away but can be really difficult to pick up until they start feeding the young.

 

[KenM]

With no two years being the same, a single Sand Martin South this am...before House Martin! no.66.

 

[jasperpatch]

A good catch Jasper, regarding ''Full-on'' crests, our Firecrest is usually yellow crown striped, and sometimes has an orange tint, however I once shot a bird that really lived up to it's name. :t:

Ah, the one that got away this UK trip. We found a lot of goldcrests, and I momentarily thought I'd found a fire too, but it disappeared and I didn't get a good enough view to be certain. I think I've only ever seen one!

 

[jasperpatch]

Rainy day, and I'm sat at an upstairs window totting up flyovers:
26. Common Grackle
27. Common Loon
28. Mallard
29. Common Merganser
30. Barn Swallow
31. Tree Swallow
32. Northern Flicker
33. Golden Crowned Kinglet.

 

[Richard Prior]

Time to come clean, I started to worry about my heard- only Bonelli’s Warbler the next day when I heard and then saw one of the local Blue Tits doing the Bonelli’s- style trill but more extended. So on Thursday I checked a couple of sites where the Warbler breeds, the calls there confirmed I’d been a bit stringy!!Maybe I’ll get one in the post-breeding period.....
So today’s addition doesn’t advance my total:

61 Common Redstart

A female briefly in the plum tree this morning, haven’t heard any singing yet though.

 

[KenM]

Time to come clean

......always thought you were a bit grubby Richard. :king:

 

[Richard Prior]

......always thought you were a bit grubby Richard. :king:

!!! Pure as the driven slush I am.
As a reward for my honesty over the Bonelli's No. 62 lumbered up the valley early afternoon, I'd seen this one twice recently within a mile of home and I even snatched a brief 'record shot' (as I believe it's called) to add to my album of, er, quality Bird Photos from the House/Garden:t:

62 Grey Heron

Although the river is clearly audible from home (especially in Spring when the snow is melting) it is not visible, so the chance of seeing Dipper and Grey Wagtail in their nesting habitat is zero. I live in hope of one day seeing another riverside breeder though, last year our neighbour described seeing three birds flying down the valley, " mostly grey with some white in the wings and necks sticking out like small geese". Goosander fits the bill I reckon.........

 

[KenM]

There was I bemoaning the racing certainty that it was only a matter of time before Richard edges ahead and pulls away into the nineties, staring into the varying grey cloud types now opening up with patches of blue...and along came no.67....Falco subbuteo, will make hay as the sun shines. :t:

 

[Richard Prior]

There was I bemoaning the racing certainty that it was only a matter of time before Richard edges ahead and pulls away into the nineties, staring into the varying grey cloud types now opening up with patches of blue...and along came no.67....Falco subbuteo, will make hay as the sun shines. :t:

You go ahead and make hay Ken, we're not yet at that stage here as you can see from yesterday morning's view from the kitchen window! Today's two new birds make it a paltry 7 for April so far , last April added 16 (mind you, 2017 saw only 5 additions in April so all this reminds us of the wonderful unpredictability of birding).
Anyway, I'm still on cloud nine as my beloved Stockport County won the National League North today and go up to the fifth-tier National League, the first thing they've won since 1967 (Fourth Div champions,and I was at the match when they won it!)