My best Garden tick yet (2 Viewers)

[hectorzaza]

Snipe in your garden!WOW,I"ve never even seen a snipe and I"ve been birdwatching since I was six.We have not a bad garden list as we have fields and a small oak wood oppoisite us so I know how exciting it can be when you see a bird for the first time in your garden.Last winter we had a pair of lesser redpolls here for the first time also it was the first time we had seen lesser redpolls so we were really excited.Most unlucky one was two years ago we went out for the day and when we came back the chap next door but one who also fed the birds said there had been a Green woodpecker on our feeder,we missed it and it has never been back since

 

[clydeboy]

Snipe in your garden!WOW,I"ve never even seen a snipe and I"ve been birdwatching since I was six.We have not a bad garden list as we have fields and a small oak wood oppoisite us so I know how exciting it can be when you see a bird for the first time in your garden.Last winter we had a pair of lesser redpolls here for the first time also it was the first time we had seen lesser redpolls so we were really excited.Most unlucky one was two years ago we went out for the day and when we came back the chap next door but one who also fed the birds said there had been a Green woodpecker on our feeder,we missed it and it has never been back since

I'm a bit like that with my nemesis, The Greater Spotted Woodpecker.
3 times there has been one in my garden, and on all occasions my camera has been elsewhere.:-C
I've only ever seen them in the garden and nowhere else, even though I have looked.
And With regards to the snipe, I never expected to ever see one at all never mind see one in my garden.. :-O
Birding is indeed a joyous thing.:t:

Ian

 

[KenM]

Excellent Garden Bird.... Clydeboy....and I like your enthusiasm! maintain it at all cost.

 

[djludlow]

I had a Snipe in my garden during a big freeze in 1987 -very odd .None since of course and not expecting any !

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Top garden tick there Ian, I'd be made up with a snipe on my garden list

With the woodpecker, get to know the call and it's surprising how many you'll get to see. I was like you and only saw the birds that came to my parents feeders for a long time, once I got that call nailed, I heard it more and more often when out birding and started to find the birds myself.

 

[clydeboy]

Top garden tick there Ian, I'd be made up with a snipe on my garden list

With the woodpecker, get to know the call and it's surprising how many you'll get to see. I was like you and only saw the birds that came to my parents feeders for a long time, once I got that call nailed, I heard it more and more often when out birding and started to find the birds myself.

Thanks Keith
I've been out and about in woodland often, but like you say If I listen for the call then I'm sure to "get 'im".:t:
I did hear a green woodpecker calling continuously for abour 15mins when walking round broadwood loch, but, you've guessed it.....Nowhere to be seen.:-O
I do enjoy coming across birds completely by chance though, it's a brilliant rush, and keeps my spirits up for days. :king:

Ian

 

[Keith Dickinson]

if a green woodie is calling then more often than not it's on a tree trunk, look for areas on the trunk where there are no branches, they like that sort of thing. Around me I find more green woodies on telegraph poles than on trees. They are also very quick at working out if they are being watched by someone, they will then sidle around the trunk

 

[rb_stern]

I have had all 3 N.American accipiters in the same poplar tree on my property at different times - unusual, as here in Nova Scotia, Sharp-shinned is moderately common, although unpredictable; Cooper's is pretty rare (indeed I had the 2nd documented provincial record, here on my property 3 winters ago- and it's presumably the same one that I later saw in that poplar): and N.Goshawk is a locally common breeder in dense woodland, but very rarely seen in backyards!

Another rare visitor to that tree was a Green Heron this summer - perched briefly in the top - another rarity in the province.

I have photos of all of them, although not in the same tree.

Richard

 

[Bert5968]

300 Redwing

Just got home from work and was building a snowman with my son in the backgarden when I looked up in the trees and there were 300 plus Redwing
going nuts for the berries. This is the most I have seen at once. It was an awsome sight.:t:

 

[Monahawk]

Snipe in the garden reminded me of a moment about 4 years ago when a flock of about a dozen of them buzzed low over my head while I was planting apple trees in my garden. The 'whoosh' noise they made as they passed over was amazing, rather like a fly pass by the Red Arrows.
Reed Bunting occaisionally visit my garden usually once or twice a year, but my top garden ticks have to be a Stonechat last February and 2 Woodcock last Christmas day.

Garden birding. Love it.