Tag: House Sparrows

Another new bird for the year, Song Thrush & Tawny Owl is back.

Sadly when moving the website to a new server I lost a lot of internal links, sorry that the links on here do not work.

My bird list isnā€™t as exciting as Wesā€™s (A good day at Rainham Marshes) but I have a new one for this years bird list and the Tawny Owl was back last night, there was also a Song Thrush in the front garden today, very happy with that! Ā There were roughly 20 geese flying east to west over the Pentland hills ā€“ photo of Pentland Hills, south of Edinburgh today, strangely they were flying in one straight line and not the VĀ that weā€™re all so familiar with, wasnā€™t sure what species of geese they were so havenā€™t added them to my list.

As well as the Dunnocks ā€“Ā Dunnocks showing mating behaviour, my garden bird list.Ā ā€“ showing mating behaviour the other day, the two woodpigeons I saw today were also getting ready to nest, it has been a very mild winter here in Edinburgh. Ā Hereā€™s my garden bird list that I saw today:

  1. Blackbird x 2
  2. Blue Tit x 2
  3. Chaffinch x 3
  4. Coal Tit x 2
  5. Dunnock x 1
  6. House Sparrow x 3
  7. Magpie x 1
  8. Song Thrush x 1
  9. Tawny Owl x 1 ā€“ heard only
  10. Woodpigeon x 2

This list below is from Wes, you can see his latest updates on:Ā https://twitter.com/WesDonze

A good day at Rainham Marshes

Visited the RSPB site at Rainham Marshes today and had a good visit there for about 3 hours ā€“ 42 species in total

So here is the list in order seen

Magpie, Collared Dove, House Sparrow, Robin, Dunnock, Lapwing, Blackbird, Coot, Shelduck, Carrion Crow, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Starling, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Shoveler, Dunlin, Reed Bunting, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Kestrel, Mute Swan, Marsh Harrier, Herring Gull, Golden Plover, Canada Goose, Little Grebe ( heard only), Cormorant, Pachard, Cettiā€™s Warbler, Stonechat, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit,Blue Tit, Common Pheasant, Black Headed Gull,Lesser Black Backed Gull, Redshank, Greenfinch, Wood Pigeon

 

Best ever view of Cettiā€™s Warbler ā€“ previously only had fleeting glimpses but today the one i saw was showing well

Dunnocks showing mating behaviour, my garden bird list.

Yesterday Iā€™d forgotten to add a Robin to my list, it wasnā€™t in my garden and i hadnā€™t written it down when I saw it, so edited the post and all up to date now. Ā Today all seen in the garden or flying over, first time thereā€™s been a great tit for a while and the dunnocks are displaying a lot of mating behaviour. Ā Hereā€™s the list of birds I saw today:

  1. Blackbird x 3
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Coal Tit x 1
  4. Dunnock x 3
  5. Great Tit x 1
  6. House Sparrow x 7
  7. Lesser black-backed gull x 3 fly overs ā€“ a new one for this year, although probably seen them at a distance theyā€™d never been close enough to ID.
  8. Magpie x 1 ā€“ heard only
  9. Woodpigeon x 3

A new first for the year ā€“ Greater Spotted Woodpecker

Thatā€™s right I saw a Greater Spotted Woodpecker, not in my garden but a tree opposite my house, so very pleased with that one! Ā The rest of the list is from my garden today:

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Black-headed Gull x 1 ā€“ flyover.
  3. Blue Tit x 1
  4. Coal Tit x 1
  5. Dunnock x 1
  6. Greater Spotted Woodpecker x 1
  7. House Sparrow x 3
  8. Robin x 1 ā€“ not in my garden on the street nearby.
  9. Woodpigeon x 2

Very few birds around, but we had a guest dog Scooby.

Wow it was incredibly quiet in the garden today, very little moving at all, we did have a dog that isnā€™t ours (the birds are used to Chewie and generally ignore him) that was found walking the street, so while waiting to find the owner Scooby was running around our garden and I think this maybe why so few birds, as only 2 species and 9 birds in total:

  1. Dunnock x 2
  2. House Sparrows x 7

The sparrows did look like they were mating though.

As usual my bird list was seen in the garden today:

Grey Heron and Tawny Owl show up on my list for first time this year.

Just after midnight last night I heard a Tawny Owl, first Iā€™ve heard since moving into my new place a bit further down Corstorphine Hill than I used to live, a bit of a surprise as thereā€™s a lot less trees around here. Ā Thanks to Edinburgh Hawkwatch for their page on ā€“ Tawny Owl ā€“ EdinburghĀ for a little more detail about Tawny Owls in the area. Ā Whilst watching the Rugby I noticed a very large bird arrive on the horizon I thought thatā€™s too big to be a gull it has to be something else, it continued to fly straight towards me and it was a heron, another first for the year, hereā€™s the garden bird list Iā€™ve seen today:

  1. Blackbird x 3
  2. Blue Tit x 2
  3. Chaffinch x 4
  4. Coal Tit x 1
  5. Grey Heron x 1 ā€“ fly over
  6. House Sparrow x 6
  7. Tawny Owl x 1 ā€“ heard only
  8. Woodpigeon x 1
  9. Wren x 1

Lots of insects about in very windy conditions.

The wind has really picked up here in Edinburgh, even with the massive amount of wind about there were a lot of insects in the air today and few birds, I gather the insect prey is too great of an attraction than the seed I put out for them. Ā Strangely not a single coal tit, thatā€™s a very rare situation! Ā Hereā€™s the bird list for today:

  1. Blackbird x 3
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Chaffinch x 1
  4. Feral Pigeon x 1
  5. Greenfinch x 2
  6. House Sparrow x 3
  7. Woodpigeon x 2

Only 5 species in my garden today.

Sorry my carpal tunnelā€™s flared very badly over the last few days, I would have liked to have written more about the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch and other posts. Ā On top of the birds listed below there were 5 gulls flying over head but I couldnā€™t see what they were. Ā Hereā€™s the list from my garden today:

  1. Blackbird x 3
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Coal Tit x 1
  4. House Sparrow x 6
  5. Robin x 1

Second attempt at the Big Garden Birdwatch on a very sunny day.

Today I did a second 1 hour bird count for the RSPBā€™s big garden birdwatch, the weather was nice and sunny and amazingly there were insects out again so few birds were in the garden feeding as there was plenty of food elsewhere. Ā Only 3 species showed up, the always faithful blackbird ā€“ I think itā€™s been listed in every single garden counts Iā€™ve done this year! Ā Hereā€™s the extensive full list:

  1. Blackbird x 2
  2. Coal Tit x 1
  3. House Sparrow x 6

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch ā€“ Day 1.

Hi all, Iā€™ve been busy getting ready for Australia day celebrations and I only got an hour of straight birdwatching for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, normally I look out the window when getting lunch, breakfast etc. Ā I hope to get a better count tomorrow for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, todayā€™s list wasnā€™t as full as my usual list of garden birds:

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Coal Tit x 2
  4. Fieldfare x 1 ā€“ this one was later than the hour I did, once again my dog alerted me to the fact there was a different bird that he doesnā€™t recognise the call.
  5. Greenfinch x 1
  6. House Sparrow x 2
  7. Magpie x 9
  8. Robin x 1