Name a bird for each letter of the alphabet- (2 Viewers)

[qwerty5]

R - Red-headed Woodpecker

Distinctive hoarse queeeoh, always a welcome sound.

 

[lgonz1008]

S - Screaming Piha

The bird we all heard when seeing a rainforest in movies and TV shows, especially if the movie was set in South America

 

[dantheman]

T- Turtle Dove. Sadly it's distinctive purring song absent from much of the UK in the last decades.

One of the oldest recorded bird sounds in literature - from the bible old testament - 'The voice of the turtle is heard in our land' iirc (Palestine/Israel presumably).

 

[qwerty5]

U - Upland Sandpiper

Distinctive "wolf-whistle" call.

 

[dantheman]

Since no-one has posted any distinct vireos or anything, yet again ...

V - Vanellus vanellus

Lapwing. Alternative local/older names include Peewit referencing it's distinctive piercing breeding call.

(Not sure how to describe it, but Wood Thrush has something of a similar quality iirc?)

 

[lgonz1008]

W - Whimbrel

Series of shrilling whistles.

 

[dantheman]

Not sure if the standard responses for X (Sabine's and Terek's) have particularly distinct calls? Unless anyone has anything else ... give x a miss???

 

[lgonz1008]

Not sure if the standard responses for X (Sabine's and Terek's) have particularly distinct calls? Unless anyone has anything else ... give x a miss???

I got one, but not sure if I should go back-to-back

 

[dantheman]

I got one, but not sure if I should go back-to-back

Go for it ... been over 24 hours ;-)

 

[lgonz1008]

X - Xiphorhynchus guttatus (Buff-throated Woodcreeper)

Default Woodcreeper species in most of the Amazon basin to the point that you have to tune it out to find the rarer species. Best IDd by a series of squeaks that rise until the call just stops.

 

[foresttwitcher]

Y - Yellowhammer - song rendered as 'little bit of bread and no cheese', a bit of a stretch but you recognise it when you hear it.

 

[dantheman]

Z - Zitting Cisticola

It's in the name! (In this case)

 

[dantheman]

Y - Yellowhammer - song rendered as 'little bit of bread and no cheese', a bit of a stretch but you recognise it when you hear it.

I knew it as 'a little bit of bread and no cheeeeese' which fits better? ;-)

 

[dantheman]

New game I guess ...


Birds you've seen in flight. Doesn't have to be a particularly aerial species, but notable on an occasion that you saw one in flight (eg a lifer, a particularly interesting vivid memory or occasion etc). Again, doesn't hurt to mention the reason/sighting if possible.

A - Arctic Tern. Back when I was one of the wardens on the Farne Islands was talking to a group of schoolkids when one of the terns decided to take exception to our presence (they nest all over, including next to the boardwalks, so unavoidable that you annoy/disturb them really). I could see it out of the corner of my eye, hovering and coming in for a few attacks, but this one was extra persistent/committed as it struck me on the side of the head and actually drew blood, to the excitement of all. (Hat wearing was de rigeur/obligatory, however this one went low and clever ... ) Seen at extreme close range ...

 

[lgonz1008]

B - Black-footed Albatross

Seen in a Westport pelagic, amazing seeing them fly in and completely dwarf the Fulmars and Shearwater.

 

[WACCOE]

C-Cape Petrel seen on a pelagic out of Simon's Town SA.

 

[foresttwitcher]

D - Dunlin - on a windy morning in dense fog one spring, on the beach between Harris & Hushinish (Outer Hebrides, Scotland, UK), a flock of numerous birds appearing out of the murk getting bowled along just inches above the sand, calling constantly, and a few feet away.

 

[dantheman]

E - Eurasian Whimbrel

The only 'rarity' I've found in the USA - was over on holiday with my partner back in 2008, traveling back to NY for our flight checked out some wetlands between there and New Jersey where we had been staying - big flock of Whimbrel (like literally thousands) flying over and scanned them, as you do, and picked out a single bird with a long white rump! Even got some phonescoped pics. We nearly missed our flight as in the excitement had misread our tickets as 16:20 instead of 14:20 or something like that.

 

[WACCOE]

F- Fan-tailed Raven seen in Israel.

 

[foresttwitcher]

G - Gyrfalcon - two interacting low overhead and alongside the car while driving the loop road around the large tundra peninsular north east of Husavik, Iceland.