Favourite bird?
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mikench
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I'd forgotten about oyster catchers which I do like and I've seen a good few of them inland this year with 2 chasing off a red kite. We have lots of jays around home and they are a colourful bird. I do enjoy watching long long tailed **** as well. There are too many to choose from but small birds like wrens, goldcrests and firecrests need help during long hard winters and are very cute.
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seth49
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I always like to here the curlews when they come back to breed,I always think spring is on its way when I hear them.
I like the goldfinches which come to my feeders in the winter,
But my favourite bird is our African grey parrot, we have had him for twenty four years and he’s a real character, good talker, waves to you, and mimics lots of things, he’s really good company.
I like the goldfinches which come to my feeders in the winter,
But my favourite bird is our African grey parrot, we have had him for twenty four years and he’s a real character, good talker, waves to you, and mimics lots of things, he’s really good company.
steve2
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Birds of Prey top my list. Garden birdwise it would have to be the House Sparrows and Gold Finches.Bottom would be Ring Necked Parakeets.
no-one in particular
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Sparrow hawks are exciting, seen the female twice lately, both times swooping down from a tree behind the hedges that run along the railway line. And the male once which is rare for me. Swifts fly right up to my living room window in the summer, maybe 3 or 4 feet away. I am high up on a hill and a top floor but can't get a picture on the mobile, too quick but; fascinating to watch them that close on the wing. The autumn jays have started to appear in the garden and a lot of small birds. That's the trouble, they are all favourites really.
Possibly my rarest bird was a Red-Footed Falcon seen from the top of a double decker some years ago.
Possibly my rarest bird was a Red-Footed Falcon seen from the top of a double decker some years ago.
S-Kippy
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People keep lobbing species into the mix that I'd forgotten about. What seems clear is that its very hard to pick one bird over all the others...I do love my lapwings but also wrens,long tailed ****, nuthatches et al.....and bullfinch though I've not seen one for years.
In fact bar gulls and waterfowl ( most...especially coots) I am hard pressed to pick a stand out favourite. Never miss a chance to see a nightjar though...incredible things.
Having got my first waxwing last winter ( beautiful birds) my new "top of the bucket list" is a chough,though I'll have to make a special effort for one of those. None round High Wycombe
In fact bar gulls and waterfowl ( most...especially coots) I am hard pressed to pick a stand out favourite. Never miss a chance to see a nightjar though...incredible things.
Having got my first waxwing last winter ( beautiful birds) my new "top of the bucket list" is a chough,though I'll have to make a special effort for one of those. None round High Wycombe
John Keane
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Somebody needs to look at the profanity filter if you can’t post in a bird-related thread and say long tailed ****, blue ****, great ****, coal ****, crested ****, willow ****, marsh ****.
Please fix it you bunch of ****. :wh
Please fix it you bunch of ****. :wh
Spent hours watching two pairs of choughs whilst my missus and boys were farting around on a beach in West Wales,amazing in flight,then grazing for worms on the tops of cliffs,then a bearded assassin shot through looking for a pigeon,great day....
S-Kippy
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Lucky you. I'm rarely in the areas that chough frequent though the one time I was the damned things were not at home. I'm going to have to make a special trip.
bennygesserit
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I set up a "peregrine CAM" at a secret west midlands location
Was a lot of fun
But then had to disable the feed when we found that local pigeon fanciers were threatening to poison them
When we went to replace the cameras under supervision of course because they are a protected species I was amazed at the amount of ringed "skeletons" we found
Was a lot of fun
But then had to disable the feed when we found that local pigeon fanciers were threatening to poison them
When we went to replace the cameras under supervision of course because they are a protected species I was amazed at the amount of ringed "skeletons" we found
Go to West Wales,do a bit of dolphin watching too,you see them virtually daily from the visitor centre at New Quay,I saw the choughs at Munt,along with the peregrine and some dolphins,nice part of the world too...
John Keane
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See Choughs at South Stack, Anglesey, they have a nest cam in the cliffs to monitor them.
mikench
Well-known member
And on the Lyn Peninsula overlooking Bardsey.
mikench
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Just had a shock as a small bird the size of a robin flew onto the patio, hit the glass door and then looked around, flew away from the table and then off whence it came. Instead of a red breast it had a blue one. According to my book of European birds it was most definately a bluethroat and a very pretty bird it was too .
The other evening I saw a huge murmuration of starlings settling into the tall palm trees near the promenade. It was a huge flock.
The other evening I saw a huge murmuration of starlings settling into the tall palm trees near the promenade. It was a huge flock.
Jim Crosskey 2
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I can't believe i'm the first to get here with this but my absolutely favourite bird to see whilst fishing is the grey heron. I love the way that such a massive thing can seemingly disappear at will amongst reeds - I love to watch them fish as well, although you do really need to keep very still if you want them to go about their business anywhere near you. I'm not sure why but they're very much my "good luck" bird too... once I've seen one, I convince myself then that it's going to be a good session. And despite being a fishing bird, I never really see it as competition.
I guess that my favourite whilst fishing was a water rail ... which spend about an hour skulking around on top of a dead reed bed about 11m away from me on a Nene backwater 25 years ago.
On top of the great experience of observing it so close ... it’s the only one I’ve ever seen!
On top of the great experience of observing it so close ... it’s the only one I’ve ever seen!
Really,I've seen quite a few,although they are secretive,the first one I saw I caught whilst fishing the old Stareys number one peg at Radwell,it must have been skulking under my feet and as I cast it took off and the line wrapped around it's leg,I got it in with the landing net and untangle it and after I had a close look I released it gladly unharmed,the most amazing thing to me is it has no webbing on its feet,yet swims around though awkwardly....
seth49
Well-known member
Moorhen are the same, no webbing between toes but they swim well enough,
This one stays with me most off the day while I fish scrounging pellets and maggots of me, one of this years chicks.