Garden/Yard List 2020 (1 Viewer)

[KenM]

A six-shooter from now on then Ken, makes you sound like John Wayne!
Still waiting for a Cuckoo here( just one heard last year on one day only.

Just heard a single “Cuckoo” Richard hoping that’s acceptable, or do I need to hear it three times?....if so?...”Get off your horse...Mr”

 

[RyanI]

We never see any images of your claims Ryan, I’d have thought that living on the coast (bit like shooting fish in a barrel) you’d want to image the odd rare that floats by....you must have reasons?
At least with my images you get warts and all, in other words...what you get is what you see..more than what can be said for you!

Regarding past glories and let’s hope future?...to do half as well in a more challenging environment (11 miles from St.Pauls) you would struggle period!

I hadn’t realised this forum was a rarity committee that I had to submit to, fortunately the national and county ones seem happy enough with the few things I’ve been lucky enough to find so far :t:

Time and again you moan on birdforum about committees rejecting records of yours but you constantly show you lack any attention to detail, misidentifying things regularly so to the readers here it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that you’ve had things rejected tbh.

P.S if I have time I’ll dig out some pics for you, got a stunning honey buzzard from last week you might learn from 8-P

 

[Richard Prior]

Just heard a single “Cuckoo” Richard hoping that’s acceptable, or do I need to hear it three times?....if so?...”Get off your horse...Mr”

Yesterday I thought I heard one but it was a distant cow bell, you don’t have that problem in your neck of the woods !
With the livelier than usual exchanges currently on this thread I suggest completing John Wayne’s phrase “Get off your horse“ accordingly :

“and drink your milk ( with a calming sedative )“

 

[RyanI]

Just for you Ken here's four photos of descriptions I need to write for this spring, unfortunately I didn't a pic of the red-footed falcon, never been good at getting photos of birds with my bridge camera while seawatching but I'll endeavour to do better.

I like to describe my photos as poor but identifiable :t:

 

[KenM]

Just for you Ken here's four photos of descriptions I need to write for this spring, unfortunately I didn't a pic of the red-footed falcon, never been good at getting photos of birds with my bridge camera while seawatching but I'll endeavour to do better.

I like to describe my photos as poor but identifiable :t:

As you say....perhaps a little more practise wouldn’t go amiss.

At this end I do have a number of restrictions namely juxtaposition of window frames and trees, which often hinder the camera sensor “lock on” to any aerial subjects that may arise.

But let’s get back to the ID’ing of patterns, colours, tints into pre-ordained shapes it’s hardly “rocket science” albeit there are a few on here that would wish to deem it so.
I introduced my (then) four year old grandson to “mothing” in the mornings we would pull out various common bright and conservatively patterned moths, he surprised me with his memory retention and correctly ID’d most, if not all of the regular species. Thus proving to me that recognition of quarry to the “hunting male” is somewhat primal and not too difficult a task.

Place the subject at greater distance and the ID’ing process can become more problematic, just like most of us RK’s are straightforward, however I’m not used to seeing them at great height. Thus an all dark Kite without any contrasting pale wing panels and a shallow forked tail in what appeared to be adequate light, rang alarm bells!

I should have noted the wing length which I didn’t, also the tail should have been even shallower...how remiss of me, and as for the fingers that’s something worth remembering, on balance one has to make a judgement call and sometimes it goes wrong.

Getting the occasional “from the hip” call wrong is part of life’s rich pageant! btw am looking forward to your HB tutorial, I’ll take some shots of some red London Buses and return the compliment.:t:

 

[aeshna5]

Have re-appraised the images and further to your comments, I believe the wings now to be too long for BK and in future (I believe structurally more important!) BK has 6 fingers opposed to 5 in RK...a surprising omission from the critique so far? Admittedly the hand is in moult and it would be nigh on impossible for counting purposes, in future will shoot on six only!

Off the list John!....to be replaced by a singing Cuckoo!.....there is a silver lining behind every Black Kite.

The number of fingers may not have been mentioned because it wasn't possible (to my eyes at least) to count them from these images, but yes this is a very important point.

 

[Warixenjalka]

I have a good chance to make new record, cos I'm now even with last years record. :king:

#76. Lesser Whitethroat

 

[birdmeister]

Just one addition this morning as songbird migration begins to wind down.

111. Red-eyed Vireo (2nd yard record)


However, last night's sunset watch was excellent. Nearly 70 Cedar Waxwings powered through, a Great Egret cruised past, and no fewer than 61 Common Nighthawks flew over, often quite high!

 

[Warixenjalka]

Sometimes it's worth to wake up little bit earlier. Today I woke up at 00:10 am and get out at 00:30 am. And the result was a NEW RECORD! ||

#77. Thrush Nightingale - After a year of absence made a return to the lists. Admittedly, now the bird — or, in fact, I heard two different individuals — sounded much farther than the bird that had almost sung next door in previous years.

And still 7 months to get some more... o

 

[KenM]

Sometimes it's worth to wake up little bit earlier. Today I woke up at 00:10 am and get out at 00:30 am. And the result was a NEW RECORD! ||

#77. Thrush Nightingale - After a year of absence made a return to the lists. Admittedly, now the bird — or, in fact, I heard two different individuals — sounded much farther than the bird that had almost sung next door in previous years.

And still 7 months to get some more... o

You're getting too close for comfort Wari!.....TN one could dream. :-C

 

[birdmeister]

Very exciting results last night! I've been watching the skies over my yard for the past several nights hoping to witness a very special spectacle. Although I'm over 100km from the nearest ocean/Delaware Bay, flocks of shorebirds can be seen zooming north over southeastern PA on their way to the Arctic. The reservoir about 2 miles SW of my yard sometimes brings flocks a bit lower as they go by, so I was hoping to catch a few of the flocks.

An official watch near the Delaware border often sends live updates with reports of Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Black-bellied (Grey) Plover, Dunlin, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, and if you're having a good night, Red Knot. On this evening they didn't send any updates (turns out the birds were too far to ID), but I thought the weather conditions were still good up here: fairly sunny with nice clouds and a light S breeze.

Sure enough, I picked out one or two flocks at 8:15 PM very far off, probably over the reservoir. The flock made a turn straight for my position, and I scrambled to get them in the scope. Several tense moments followed as the flock disappeared behind two large trees. They did pop back out, though, and I got them in the scope for a delightful 10 seconds or so. They were a flock of 30-35

112. Black-bellied Plovers (new yard bird!!!)

BB Plovers are rare migrants in my county, usually with fewer than one per year if the local mudflats are good. They have been observed a few times as flyover migrants in late spring.

Needless to say, I'm just thrilled! The weather has turned a bit rainy, but I may have a chance tomorrow evening before a cold front sweeps through.

 

[Paul Chapman]

First time I've troubled the scorers for a while:-

65 - Jay - 25th May

Presumably the same bird on two consecutive days. It eluded the camera but Grey Heron made it onto the 'in the garden' list when it stopped to clean its bill on the roof early one morning when I was emptying the moth trap and Swifts and Peregrines continue to entertain.

All the best

Paul

 

[Richard Prior]

Crossbill question

Congratulations Wari on your new record and BM on yet another Garden lifer:t:
Early morning garden work (6.30 to 8.30) paid off today, it’s a Bank Holiday so it was very quiet at first, no wind rustling the trees nor water rushing noisily down the river either so I finally was able to hear the male

76 Garden Warbler

that’s been singing for 2 weeks now just up the road. Just one behind our Finnish correspondent now!!

Later we did some maintenance at Mother in Law’s field in the forest and after a 10 month absence I finally saw some Common Crossbill, a flock of about 60, I was wondering, have any of the rest of you had similar Crossbill ‘missing in action’ scenarios since last summer? Or ( Jos and Wari perhaps) bigger numbers remaining instead of leaving your areas? Probably pine cone crop related...

 

[timsg80]

Migration has really slowed down now so I’m not sure when/if I’ll get another tick as I’m likely to be back off to Australasia in August! Still a couple more ticks for now though:
81. Mallard
82. European Honey Buzzard

I’m really pleased to have finally got Honey Buzzard onto the list after many days of watching an empty sky while epic numbers were recorded on the other side of the island.

 

[halftwo]

A Barnacle Goose just flew over.

What are the rules?

 

[KenM]

A Barnacle Goose just flew over.

What are the rules?

Unsure if there are any feral populations H, but if you can include (and do) Egyptian Goose (cos they’re self sustaining) then why not Barnacle, as it’s probably only a matter of time before they “self sustain” :t:

 

[Farnboro John]

Unsure if there are any feral populations H, but if you can include (and do) Egyptian Goose (cos they’re self sustaining) then why not Barnacle, as it’s probably only a matter of time before they “self sustain” :t:

There are several feral populations, Barnacle Goose is on the British List as Cat A/C. Depends how pure you want your list to be.

John

 

[KenM]

Depends how pure you want your list to be.

John

As pure as me....:eek!:

 

[halftwo]

Well, I'd rather not have several species on the list - I suppose Banacle isno worse than Canada, Pheasant, et al.

 

[dantheman]

I think Barnacle in the summer probably is worse than Canada or Pheasant tbh ...

There is of course the slim chance that an injured bird of totally wild origin and having failed to migrate passed by, but then by it passing by kinda indicates it isn't particularly injured. More akin to a Muscovy Duck I suspect.

Great thing to see, but wouldn't put it on my list as a wild bird. I guess it partly boils down to where the feral populations are right now and what they are doing ...