Garden birds - wotcha got?

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HAL9000HAL9000 Frets: 9551
edited June 2020 in Off Topic
We live in a reasonably-sized town and have a handful of feeders in the back garden. Regular visitors are...

Blue tits
Coal tits
Great tits
Goldfinches
Robins
Blackbirds
Collared doves
Starlimgs
Crows
Magpies
Pigeons
Sparrows
Dunnocks

Occassional visitors...

Nuthatches
Long tailed tits

Used to get but not recently...

Greenfinches


How about you?


I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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Comments

  • dafuzzdafuzz Frets: 1522
    Saw a robin and a wood pigeon today. Saw loads actually but I'm totally ignorant as to what they are...

    Do you just know or do you have a big book / app / other that you use to identify them?

    We also get them green parakeets wot Hendrix didn't set free sometimes, but they don't come down to garden level. I see them sometimes in the bigger trees round the park
    All practice and no theory
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  • DougDoug Frets: 172
    Goldfinches, they empty the feeder of sunflower hearts at an alarming rate, I don't mind, they're lovely to watch.
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  • boogiemanboogieman Frets: 12314
    Sparrows
    Wrens
    Blackbirds
    Thrushes
    Starlings
    Great tits. Fnarr
    Magpies
    Parakeets
    Goldfinches 
    Pigeons
    Crows/Rooks/Ravens. Never could tell the difference. 
    Robins
    The occasional heron lands on the roof. 

    There’s a bigger assortment in the country park 10 minutes walk away including Jays, Spotted and Green Woodpeckers and Kestrels. 
     
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  • KittyfriskKittyfrisk Frets: 18385
    edited June 2020
    Not in any particular order:  Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Starling, Blue tit, Coal tit, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Siskin, Redpoll, Yellowhammer, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Jackdaw, Robin, Mallard Duck & an occasional Sparrowhawk.
    Edit:  Forgot to mention that I currently have House Martins in my back passage  :o
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  • Off hand I can think of

    Robin
    goldfinch
    greenfinch
    songthrush
    blue tit
    coal tit
    pied wagtail

    certain times of the year

    owl
    lesser spotted woodpecker 
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  • vizviz Frets: 10647
    edited June 2020
    Same plus jays and a sparrowhawk that eats wood pigeons. Dunnocks a-plenty. Oh and we had a thrush nesting in our porch and making little thrushes. And green and great spotted woodpeckers
    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • HAL9000HAL9000 Frets: 9551
    edited June 2020
    dafuzz said:

    Do you just know or do you have a big book / app / other that you use to identify them?

    As a kid I was fascinated by birds so read a lot at the time. So now I often just know. Anything I don’t know I can Google. RSBP Bird Identifier is useful.
    I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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  • blobbblobb Frets: 2914
    3 Buzzards circling earlier.
    Feelin' Reelin' & Squeelin'
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  • trolleytrolley Frets: 88
    House sparrows
    Dunocks
    Wrens
    Blackbirds
    Thrush
    Starlings
    Great tits/blue tits
    Magpies
    Greenfinch
    Goldfinches 
    Wood pigeons/collared doves/feral pigeons
    Crows
    Robins
    Sparrowhawks
    Great Spotted woodpeckers
    Jays

    Occasional: Bullfinches
    Long tailed tits - usually passing through
    Rarely: Barn owl, tawny owl, nuthatch, pied wagtail

    At the moment there's so many youngsters we're being eaten out of house & home!
    At my local country park, there's the usual waterfowl, plus a spoonbill, little egret, ring plovers, including lesser, redshank, lesser spotted woodpeckers (on a good year), green woodpeckers & loads of warblers.
    But the best this year? Several cuckoos - not only heard but photographed as well
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  • artiebearartiebear Frets: 810
    edited June 2020
    Currently nesting or just fledged in the garden

    Blue Tit
    Great Tit
    Coal Tit
    Blackbirds
    Nuthatch
    Great Spotted Woodpecker
    Robin
    Dunnock
    Starling
    Wren
    Chaffinch
    Song Thrush

    Other regulars at this time of year

    Wood pigeon
    Collared Dove
    Carrion crow
    Magpie
    Jackdaw
    Jay
    Rook
    Goldfinch
    Goldcrest
    Sparrowhawk
    House Sparrow
    Greenfinch
    Chiffchaff
    Wood Warbler
    Blackcap
    Tawny Owl
    Tree Sparrow
    Long Tailed Tit

    Different mix pot the above Autumn, Winter, Spring

    Redwing
    Fieldfare
    Mistle Trush
    Siskin
    Redpoll
    Brambling

    We get buzzards overhead and in winter we are right on the flightpath for huge movements of geese ( one of the most fabulous sounds in nature, especially at night ). I often see Cormorants and Herons heading over to the river some way behind the house ( saw an Osprey there on a lockdown walk a few weeks ago ).

    I've been fascinated by wildlife since I was a kid and could not live somewhere I could not spend time watching the coming and going of various visitors, even the family of 6 grey squirrels that hang out in the garden (used to have reds, sadly long gone ).
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  • fields5069fields5069 Frets: 3826
    HAL9000 said:
    We live in a reasonably-sized town and have a handful of feeders in the back garden. Regular visitors are...

    Blue tits
    Coal tits
    Great tits
    Goldfinches
    Robins
    Blackbirds
    Collared doves
    Starlimgs
    Crows
    Magpies
    Pigeons
    Sparrows
    Dunnocks

    Occassional visitors...

    Nuthatches
    Long tailed tits

    Used to get but not recently...

    Greenfinches


    How about you?


    Most of these, but also jackdaws. Newport seems to be full of them, year after year.
    Some folks like water, some folks like wine.
    My feedback thread is here.
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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    Nothing. Well, a pigeon about once every 2 months. We have a very small garden, the mrs didn't like the shrubs when we moved in 20 years ago so they all got pulled out. There's nowhere for birds to land and take a look now. We used to try feeders but no interest.
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  • dafuzzdafuzz Frets: 1522
    HAL9000 said:
    dafuzz said:

    Do you just know or do you have a big book / app / other that you use to identify them?

    As a kid I was fascinated by birds so read a lot at the time. So now I often just know. Anything I don’t know I can Google. RSBP Bird Identifier is useful.
    Cheers!

    Part of the fast.ai course I've been half-heartedly following involves builiding a dog breed classifier. I might have a crack at a bird one using a raspberry pi camera. Don't be surprised if this never happens tbh
    All practice and no theory
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  • gordijigordiji Frets: 782
    Lucky Here in France with, Reed Warbler, Kingfisher, Heron, Cormorant, Buzzard, Kite, Sparrow Hawk, Green, both spotted & Black Woodpeckers, Blackcap, Gold,Green,  Chaff, Bull & Hawfinch, Goldcrest, Golden Oriole, Hoopoe, Redstart, Tawny, little & Barn owl , all the common tits even crested a few times ,all regularly seen except the oriole which is unmistakable by its song but so far unseen. I liked egging when i was a kid so always had an interest but have never lived anywhere with such diversity.
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  • JerkMoansJerkMoans Frets: 8775

    Forgot to mention that I currently have House Martins in my back passage  :o
    Just Norman Cook, or the whole band?
    Inactivist Lefty Lawyer
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  • MoominpapaMoominpapa Frets: 1649
    One thing we have in relative plenty here in Wokingham is red kites. I could watch them all day. They regularly make passes over our back yard because they know we leave tasty tidbits out for them  quite often.
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  • HAL9000HAL9000 Frets: 9551
    One thing we have in relative plenty here in Wokingham is red kites. I could watch them all day. They regularly make passes over our back yard because they know we leave tasty tidbits out for them  quite often.
    My daughter lives in Caversham and also sees plenty of red kites. They really are impressive.
    I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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  • DominicDominic Frets: 16013
    gordiji said:
    Lucky Here in France with, Reed Warbler, Kingfisher, Heron, Cormorant, Buzzard, Kite, Sparrow Hawk, Green, both spotted & Black Woodpeckers, Blackcap, Gold,Green,  Chaff, Bull & Hawfinch, Goldcrest, Golden Oriole, Hoopoe, Redstart, Tawny, little & Barn owl , all the common tits even crested a few times ,all regularly seen except the oriole which is unmistakable by its song but so far unseen. I liked egging when i was a kid so always had an interest but have never lived anywhere with such diversity.
    I'm assuming that you're quite southerly to get Hoopoe.......I've never seen them in N or Central France but they are extremely common in S .Spain
    Always amazes me how many Flamingoes in the Rhone Delta .....especially Camargue
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  • JonathangusJonathangus Frets: 4436
    Got a group of swifts round here at the moment.  Great watching them doing circuits of the house in the morning and evening.
    HAL9000 said:
    One thing we have in relative plenty here in Wokingham is red kites. I could watch them all day. They regularly make passes over our back yard because they know we leave tasty tidbits out for them  quite often.
    My daughter lives in Caversham and also sees plenty of red kites. They really are impressive.
    I regularly have one I see from my kitchen window here in Reading - but a couple of weeks ago there was a big group of them round here.  I reckon a dozen or so.  I saw them over Prospect Park just in front of me - they'd spotted food on the ground and a few of them landed.  Then again over the next couple of days, moving back and forth over the local area.




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  • DominicDominic Frets: 16013
    If we have a chicken die we put it out for the Kites and Buzzards on the next field ......they are lazy and only really go for carrion . We had a very big Hawk ,maybe even a SEA Eagle ( now about 20 in the wild on I.O.W. ) SWOOP DOWN FOR ONE OF THE DOGS !! a few years ago.........the dog was a large wolfhound but from height the bird probably had no true sense of perspective . I watched the eagle do a reverse wing beat at about 30 or 40' when it realised the size of the dog  .
     It was in a swoop dive so it was amazing to watch ......bird was massive ...it could have been an escaped Eagle Owl even .
     All over so quick and without realising what was happening I didn't see the bird clearly enough .
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