Favourite bird?

[xenon]

As we all know, one of the nice things about what we do is seeing things even the casual walker never does, so what is your favourite bird? I do enjoy seeing red kites and a barn owl at dusk quartering a field at dusk is a particular treat, but really it's a no brainer-kingfisher every time for me.

 

[103841]

Another vote for the Kingfisher, an easy bird to identify, that’s if your quick enough to see one in flight, a bird so beautiful you’d think it would be more at home in Papua New Guinea.

The ever present Robin always raises a smile, they always turn up when I’m gardening or by the side of a river with a tub of maggots.

 

[S-Kippy]

That is a VERY tough call. I'm extraordinarily fond of lapwings and curlews....not that there are many on the Chilterns and summer would not be the same without a yellowhammer singing his heart out.

Not sure I could pick a favourite....but I'd have little difficulty rattling off any number of birds that I dont like starting with all ducks,grebes,coots ( but not moorhens) egyptian geese in particular and the feral pigeons that next door feeds and which invariably **** on my car, not his. Ba$tards !

 

[Peter Jacobs]

I don't think I have a favourite bird as I appreciate all the visitors to my garden and the fields across the road.

We are lucky down here as a couple of villages down the road there are the Great Bustard reserve and those birds are just fantastic to watch. they are hufe bords and the project has been quite successful as they are now breeding in most years.

As far as fishing goes then the day is always enhanced if I get to see a Kingfisher on the river . . . . or maybe a Robin perching by my bait box taking maggots . . . .

 

[theartist]

Wrens are quite impressive lurking in the hedgerow behind your swim kicking out the most disproportionate volume of sound for their size. A dour looking bird that punches above it's weight in attitude

 

[sam vimes]

There are some stunners in the wider world, but things I may actually see locally tend to be my favourites. I love hoopoes, but I've only seen them on foreign soil. I have a soft spot for cara caras, that were pretty much unafraid of humans, but I'll be damned if I'm going back to the Falklands to see one.

I've got a soft spot for curlews, kingfishers and great crested grebes. I've been lucky enough to see an osprey and eagle owl locally. However, I'd probably rather see a barn owl than any other bird.

 

[rich66]

That’s a hard one, I quite like most ****. But I always think the sparrow hawk has something about him, but I’ve never seen many. Kingfishers make a glorious splash of electric blue as they fly. All corvids hold a special interest for me I know they can be a bloody menace for farmers but I admire their intelligence.


Apparently T!ts are a naughty word lol

 

[no-one in particular]

I have enjoyed many sightings fishing, short eared owls quartering a field once, and a hobby hunting right close to me, they stick in the mind a bit. Favorite bird is difficult. I have also always wanted to see a Hoopoe and I have a nice illustration on one of my prints By Archibald Thornburn, a Victorian painter of wildlife, the best in my opinion but George Lodge of the same area comes close so, always hankered to see one in the flesh. Favorite bird, they all bring a little diversion on a fishless day except sea gulls, they divert me to madness but even then I have an admiration for them, adapters and survivors first class.
I will opt for the Robin, always a joy wherever or whenever you see them.

 

[Clodhopper]

I like to see a cormorant...… or, rather, its rear-end disappearing over the horizon :wh.


My favourites change all the time. Kingfishers and raptors always give a thrill. We have been getting a good number of ravens in Sussex of late and I have been loving watching them play in the wind, on the Downs.

 

[stillwater blue]

Seriously, I'm very fond of Pheasants. I hear them a lot when I'm fishing in the morning, they're very pretty and when they're kind enough to leave me a tail feather or two I can tie my favourite nymph patterns.

 

[sam vimes]

I forgot about Avocets. I've not seen them too often, but I do like to see them.

 

[103841]

None of us must overlook the Crow naturally.

 

[mikench]

I like most birds save for rapacious gulls, noisy moorhens and Pita mallard. The Kingfisher is a favourite along with all birds of prey especially red kites, tawny owls and sparrow hawks.

This a beautiful falcon; a black shaheen.

 

[silvers]

my favourite regular garden visitor is the Nuthatch.

peregrines and choughs are pretty cool, although I've seen neither whilst fishing. It's nice to see the spread of red kites, I went on a birdwatching holiday to Wales in the mid to late 70s when there were only 25 pairs left in the whole UK.

On reflection - probably puffins!

 

[bullet]

Thats a hard one for sure...I like most, but my perennial favorites are....
1. Swallow
2.Buzzard
3 Gannet

 

[John Keane]

Here’s one from the other day but I was doing a bit of birdwatching not fishing.

On the coast I am very fond of oystercatchers.

 

[Molehill]

Don't think I can pick a general favourite as we are very lucky where we live, raptors are common over the house and in the garden, peregrine, goshawk, buzzards, kites, sparrowhawk, these are the usual eye catchers.

But when fishing, nothing brings a smile to my face like a flock of long tailed t**s working through the willows.

 

[terry m]

Pheasant, but must be accompanied by red currant jelly.

 

[108831]

Choughs,peregrines,curlews,goldfinches and woodpeckers(all three British species),without forgetting song and mistle thrushes,as you can see most things with feathers(apart from feral pidgeons)...

 

[peter crabtree]

Although I rarely see them close up I do like seeing swifts during the summer.
In winter, the chattering of a charm of Siskins in the alders on the Colne ...