Unexpected But Welcome Visitors - Birds

[Barmaid]

Sitting in the garden earlier we were watching a pied wagtail. Mr BM remarked he had not seen a yellow wagtail for years. I have never seen one.

10 mins later, I was making coffee, looked out the window and there was a pair of Yellow Wagtails!! We were both amazed. Despite sitting out here with the camera I've not seen them since

Mr BM now thinks he is gifted (well he is special) and is chuntering about golden eagles and bullfinches.

What unexpected birdies have you had in your garden?

[Zacs-Master]

Cuckoo near us. (not in the garden but a wood close by)

[dannyk13]

A sparrow hawk sat on the fence, and this in a city.

[Malachite]

Not in my garden but a few years ago I did a double take at a flock of what I assumed were waxwings in a tree at the end of my road. I sprinted back to get my camera, took some telephoto shots and ...sure enough.
I informed the local ornithological guys and the follwing day there was a whole bunch of twitchers and photographers gathered at the spot!

[sherrardk]

I’m v fortunate - from my spot on the sofa I’ve seen woodpeckers, red kites, buzzards, a heron and a huge, disgruntled owl (being bother by crows).

[Barmaid]

Not heard a cuckoo round here this year, Zacs. One does tend to sit in the trees across the road.

Sparrowhawks are amazing! We have one that hunts in the garden. The cheeky so and so sits on top of one of the feeders. You can tell if there is one about because even the pheasants clear off. (At any one time there are at least 3 pheasants in the garden, including my mate who likes to sit on the patio)

I've never seen Waxwings, Malachite. Would love to, they are stunning.

[ummmm]

I know nothing about birds. I just know the noisy effers wake up early!

[Barmaid]

Lol, Sherrard. I lay in bed and watch them. I'd never seen a woodpecker close up until we moved here. Now I see two different types on a daily basis. Last year the greater spotted had young and we had 5 in the garden.

ASBO ignores the birds, but does kill rabbits. He only ever eats half of one so I put the rest out and the buzzards or kites come and have what's left. The first time I saw a Red Kite in the garden I nearly had heart failure. They are HUGE!

[ummmm]

We rented a cottage in the lake district which backed onto the woods. The first time I'd ever seen a Woodpecker. Fascinating. The cottage had bird feeders scattered all over the place. It was lovely.

All I see here is crows.

[pixie374]

A woodpecker, recently, is the most unusual. Red Kites seem to swarm absolutely everywhere.

[hereIam]

I had a bullfinch feeding in my small garden some months ago, only the one. Never seen one so close up before and sadly, it's never been back. I've also had a sparrow hawk and it was amazing how quiet all the other birds went until it flew away !

[hereIam]

See woodpeckers often in my local park.

[ummmm]

My local park has an aviary...

[Barmaid]

As I type, there is a woody on the nuts about 15 feet away. He's quite impressive.

I'd love bullfinches HereIam. Despite the presence of a large apple tree we've never seen one. Last year, my mum blamed the bullfinches for stripping the apple blossom off some young trees she had put in - until she saw two deer stood in the garden munching away.

[Peter Pedant]

C G Jung wrote a book about this
Synchronicity
[ god it is worse than any Land Law textbook]

[Barmaid]

Peter. There is NOTHING worse than a land law text book!

[melv16]

In the bad winter a few years ago, I had 16 bullfinches, 50 gold finches, a reed bunting, 4 redpolls and to cap it all over 80 waxwings in the front garden.

[wolf63]

Melv - at the same time? Must be a huge garden.


☺

[Barmaid]

Can I move in, Melv? I can cook!

[melv16]

Quite a small garden, wolf. I'm the only person to feed the birds on my part of the road. They queue up in the hawthorn trees at the bottom of the garden. The waxwings were taking berries off the cotoneaster in the front garden.
Barmaid, I do most of the cooking. You could move in for decorative purposes:-)

[piggynose]

Ummmm. Do you mean the feathered variety?