Garden birds - I think I'm becoming a twitcher

[Megatron]

Obsessed with the things. Since lockdown and the lovely weather I've replaced all the scabby old bird feeders and table, got a new bird box etc and because I've been spending more time in the garden I've noticed their habits more.

Nothing too exciting visits I suppose, we have starling, sparrows, dunnocks, blue/great/coal tits, a robin that seems to come every day and blackbird family living in the ivy. But oh how glorious these little birds are. We have a giant crow and a bloody massive wood pigeon who knocks one of the feeders out of the tree every single day with it's massive feet but I love watching them. Sitting in a chair in the shade watching these little creatures has honestly kept me going the last few weeks, however ridiculous that sounds. Such a lovely pasttime.

If you're lucky enough to have a garden, what birds do you get visiting?

Oh I love the pokemon for boomers. Even though I'm not quite a boomer . We should make a tick off card for birds to 'collect'. Guess we could spread wide, one in Asia, some in UK and I'm in Scandinavia.

Extra points for other wildlife .

Does it count that I have seen a white tailed eagle at our summer home? They are very rare here.

I saw a woodpecker on my bird feeder today.
I've also become motivated to learn to identify the birds in my garden.

We haven't filled the bird feeders for months (years?), but I've really enjoyed watching the birds during lockdown. They're just SO LOUD! It starts before 5 am, goes on 'til about 9 pm. We have lots of starlings around - I counted 22 on the lawn yesterday, lots of (noisy) babies. There are 2 baby blackbirds, which over the past couple of weeks have been getting a little bolder, not following their parents around quite so much; a very brave robin who gets quite close to you (about 1 m); several collared doves, a (massive) woodpigeon. There's also a bluetit (I think), who lands on the trunk of the silver birch trees to eat the bugs. DH thinks it's amusing that I'll just stop what I'm doing to watch (and smile) at the birds.

I love birds. We moved here in 2018 and there were fairly few despite being rural; now we've really tried to encourage them. 10 minute ago, a juvenile barn owl perched on the garage and then moved to the chimney to hoot at us. We have house martens, starlings and sparrows nesting on the house or in the roof. The bluetits have just fledged a brood each in a nest box, the bullfinches and robins have little ones, and there are thrush nests with eggs. The wrens nest in the holes in the walls and there are baby chaffinches.

We sometimes get woodpeckers, jays, various owls and hawks passing through, and we've seen goldcrests, masses of long-tail tits, and goldspinks.

It is one of my absolutely favourite things, watching the birds.

How lovely!

We are lucky enough to be rural and my husband loves and encourages birds.

Our blue tits have just fledged and it's lovely to see them darting about the garden.

We have a huge variety of birds, wild and water fowl and at this time of year, we lie in bed listening to owls.

Oh massive twitchers here..

DH had a (very) expensive camera for his significant birthday. Because of lockdown, the majority of his pics so far are birds

We have a very loud woodpecker, gorgeous little long tailed tits, greenfinches, lots of naughty robins and to my absolute joy a gorgeous buzzard circling over the house yesterday.

We also have a very loud owl in the trees at the bottom of the garden.

And a family of herons who live by the river near our house.

'What lush, green rural idyll do you live in?' I hear you cry. I shit you not...Birmingham. Birds are ace.

I went to a local beauty spot by a lake last week ( 10 mins away and only frequented by locals, just in case anyone is likely to be upset by this) and an older couple were a bit concerned about one of the swans, it was skinny and walking in a strange, jerky way?
I calmed their fears by identifying it as a snowy egret

Which birdsong identifier app is the best?

Very jealous of the people with bullfinches - they were my favourite as a child.

We are seeing similar to PPs. Yesterday we had a baby woodpigeon which was exciting. No sign of its parents looking after it though. The other woodpigeons by the feeders were trying to drive it away and wouldn’t let it eat

Woodpigeons are tossers as parents. Don't worry, if it's got that far, it will probably survive

We have Housemartins nesting all round the eaves if our house - they come back every year. I least I think they’re Housemartins & not Swallows or Swifts - they’re so fast it’s hard to get a proper look! Every evening at dusk the air is full of them swooping and diving, it’s amazing. They they fly at their nests at full-pelt!

@Sammyquiz we have those too...I think...they're so fast I can't get a proper glimpse of them.

I love watching for robins. There's a buzzard patrols nearby. With working from home im sitting in front of a window looking into the garden and there's a big magpie strutting around.

Saw a gorgeous little bird the other day. And then another! Thought I'd look it up in a book of birds that we have....two little goldfinches. They were gorgeous

I love how birds are so tiny and different. They are really loud now. I do love it.

I've ended up downloading BirdNet too. Lockdown has meant I've had time to take more of an interest in the birds (and plants) around us.

I've seen blackbirds, magpie, wood pigeons, robins, chaffinches, blue tits and I think a starling. But can hear many more, including Canadian Geese and owls, and I often see a buzzard sat on the fence post in the field opposite.

On Thursday morning, I looked out of the kitchen window and saw a huge bird on the ground sunbathing. I have lots of little birds in the garden and thought it was a sparrowhawk, so went out so it would fly off. The sound of the door didn't spook it, so it was still there when I got outside and it was an owl (a short-eared owl, I looked it up)!. I have never seen an owl let alone one in my garden. We looked at each other for a few seconds before he/she flew up into a tree. It made my day

Me too OP! The crazy little gang in my garden are being spoilt rotten with food and water and are having a lovely spring. The blackbirds brought their first brood of youngsters to the birdbath by mid-April (sooo sweet as they enjoyed their first bath!) and soon got going on a second family. Woodpigeons, robins, tits, goldfinches and dunnocks have also nested, noisy magpies turn up daily, and occasional visitors include a spotted flycatcher, a wren and a jay.

The song thrushes bred early and have now gone elsewhere, but will no doubt be back for berries later in the year. Meanwhile the house martens have arrived, and do their swooping dance as the sun sets each evening.

All this life in a little London garden. I feel quite protective over them all.

*house martins rather than martens, obviously.

We have a scruffy old robin that visits, several blackbirds, magpies and pigeons, a large crow that drags the hedgehog feeding bowl out of the hedgehog house each morning to see what's left and unfortunately a sparrowhawk that also visits quite often