Wednesday, January 30, 2008

January Bird List

nuthatch sketchBirds I have seen from my house in January 2008:
  • Great tits
  • Starlings
  • Blue tits
  • House sparrows
  • Robins
  • Crows
  • Magpies
  • Blackbirds
  • Jays
  • Dunnocks
  • Wrens
  • Woodpigeons
  • Treeful of long-tailed tits (about 8 or so tits in an oak tree)
  • Great spotted woodpecker (only saw him once)
  • Gulls (dunno what sort, I don't do gulls)
  • Herons
  • Nuthatch (just saw him once, but he hung around for ages so I got a good look at him)
  • Chaffinch (male, I only saw one)
That's 18 species, which isn't bad for the middle of winter. I'll start a new list in February, and note which species I see again, which I don't see again, and any new species I spot.

8 comments:

Chile said...

Great list, Mel. And ya make me feel guilty that I haven't kept up our yard list. Let's see if I can pull together a reasonable guess as to ours: lesser goldfinch, house finch, house sparrow (ick), starling (gag me), rock doves (aka boring pigeons aka flying rats), mourning dove, inca dove, mockingbird, curve-billed thrasher, raven, red-tailed hawk, Harris hawk, American kestrel, Cooper's hawk, Anna's hummingbird, Gila woodpecker, ruby-crowned kinglet, and great-tailed grackle. 'Course we've seen a lot more variety in other places but this is the yard list (ones we've seen in or from our yard).

How funny. My list is 18, too. :)

Yellow said...

My list is very limited - resident pair of blackbirds, dunnock, goldfinches (dozens), starlings (millions), and two resident pigeons. I don't mind the starlings, and the pigeons clean up anything the others leave. I've had 3 years of feeding the birds in my small yard and I love it.

Anonymous said...

Have to confess that I don't spend a whole lot of time looking out of my window and counting bird species: the time I spend on the phone to Bill of Ballaugh not listening to me cos he's counting bird species doesn't count!

But I will tell you that my cats notice every bird that lands in my part of Everton, and make noises accordingly: alright, it sounds like they want to make friends with every bird that lands upon my building (I have heard noises I didn't know cats knew! Weird chirruping sounds, mainly)

I am a proud reader of this blog, despite the fact that I cannot own chickens, or even recycle easily (blame Sefton council ,a tiny flat, and a one seater car), but I am optimistic that I will soon have a life with a green meaning.

No excuses, just circumstances

Lindsey

Unknown said...

We have just started feeding the birds this winter.
Before we did all we saw was a handful of blackbirds and the occassional Great Tit.
Last weekend we got Jays, Great Tits, Robins, a wood pecker we have yet to identify, two ringed doves, a goldfinch, and wonderfully a couple of hopoos(don't know the correct spelling).
Despite the fact that the valley we live in is mostly woodland we get some great raptors- including a pair of golden eagles.
Now working on rat proof feeders, and a rat proof bird table. My idea was to take a stake, put an old bucket upside down ontop of it and then put the board for the food on top. Any better ideas welcome.

Unknown said...

The gull were probably Squawky Gulls. Most are.

We have sparrow, dunnocks, a hen blackbird along with pigeons and magpies. From time to time we get greenfinches, but no tits at all.
Our compost heap is behind a load of scrap metal and other oddments waiting to come in handy - when I walk up the garden there's often a flurry of wings as something leaves off having a snack on the invertebrates[1] crawling out of the heap. Alex reckons the compost heap is like a supermarket for the woodlice - everything they want, but out of town.

[1] Pip wants to be in a band called Pipple and the Invertebrates.

Heather @ Wiggly Wigglers said...

We get woodpeckers and nuthatches by the bucketload (well often 2 or 3 at a time!) and lots of other common species, but have never seen a Jay in the garden. Where are all the Herefordshire Jays?

Frankie said...

That is a good list. Spouse showed me his year list last week. He keeps an annual garden list, then there's the holiday list, the UK list, Europe List and rest of the World list. He has even mentioned a 'birds spotted in the backgrounds of tv programmes' list but I hope that one is a wind up! F x

Quail said...

Funny you should draw your Nuthatch...check out mine

http://quailbymail.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2007-01-01T00%3A00%3A00Z&updated-max=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00Z&max-results=8