Birds in your garden/nearby

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Discussion

TimmyMallett

Original Poster:

2,884 posts

113 months

Thursday 9th May
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Someone introduced me to an app this morning whilst out dog walking that identifies birdsong. I've used one before but it was a bit rubbish and this one (Merlin) was a bit of a step up and it led me to wonder where we all are in the country and what you have in your garden/surroundings?

I'm in the SW in an urban environment and mostly on my walk today and in my garden these seem the majority:

Wren
Blackbird
Robin
Wood Pidgeon (do these count? Lets be honest they're just posh pigeons)
Blue Tit
Long Tailed Tit

AndyAudi

3,058 posts

223 months

Thursday 9th May
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I have this app, it’s great but I’m questioning the range as I can often hear birds I recognise easily it doesn’t pick up (a distant pheasant/crow/wood pigeon)

I had a “bullfinch” the other day my 1st “rarer” one.

It’s good because you can play back & learn, I have learned quite a few new normal ones too now.

TheBALDpuma

5,851 posts

169 months

Friday 10th May
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AndyAudi said:
I have this app, it’s great but I’m questioning the range as I can often hear birds I recognise easily it doesn’t pick up (a distant pheasant/crow/wood pigeon)

I had a “bullfinch” the other day my 1st “rarer” one.

It’s good because you can play back & learn, I have learned quite a few new normal ones too now.
I think it can struggle to pick up short calls like a phesent unless they're clear with low background noise; that's my experience anyway.

DannyScene

6,651 posts

156 months

Friday 10th May
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Which app? I had one previously but it was crap and seemed to think everything was a black bird

QuartzDad

2,270 posts

123 months

Friday 10th May
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Crows. Hundreds of the buggers.

Caw. Caw. Caaaaaaaaaw.

Drives me bonkers.

RustyMX5

7,245 posts

218 months

Friday 10th May
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In the garden I see:

Daily or almost daily visitors

Robin
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long Tail Tit
Wren
Fred & Ginger (Pigeons who seem to always be together)
Magpie
Jay
Blackbird

Irregular visitors

Dunnock
Thrush
Bull Finch
Gold Finch
Greater Spotted Woodpecker
Black Cap (The female can be a real cow around other birds)
Green Woodpecker (Once)
Nuthatch

Flying around / Local:

Crows
Red Kite (millions of them)
Peregrine Falcon
Owls
Kestrel

Edited by RustyMX5 on Friday 10th May 11:41

TheBALDpuma

5,851 posts

169 months

Friday 10th May
quotequote all
DannyScene said:
Which app? I had one previously but it was crap and seemed to think everything was a black bird
Merlin is the one I use

vixen1700

23,128 posts

271 months

Friday 10th May
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Nothing really out of the ordinary for London although we did have a pair of Green Woodpeckers out back a couple of years back, feeding on the ground.

We're on the flight path of a flock of parakeets which fly West each evening, and depending on the sun you can get a wave of iridescent green fly past the window. Also a few of them are usually in the trees a couple of roads away.

smile

The_Doc

4,914 posts

221 months

Friday 10th May
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In my garden and over the wall we have

A pair of breeding pheasants
A pair of breeding red legged partridge.
Fat pigeons
Curlews
2 barn owls
Lapwings, which I can hear but rarely see, they sound like car alarms
The odd buzzard
A regular woodpecker, they are much bigger up close than you'd expect

Why do you live in Cumbria? people say......


Edited by The_Doc on Friday 10th May 11:49

TimmyMallett

Original Poster:

2,884 posts

113 months

Friday 10th May
quotequote all
Thats quite a haul.

The app flagged up a couple this morning like a Song Thrush and a Blackcap that I know definitely were not audible.

And a Buzzard.

But the rest seemed accurate. It missed the woodpecker but that's not a vocal thing, just the tapping.

The_Doc

4,914 posts

221 months

Friday 10th May
quotequote all
TimmyMallett said:
Thats quite a haul.

The app flagged up a couple this morning like a Song Thrush and a Blackcap that I know definitely were not audible.

And a Buzzard.

But the rest seemed accurate. It missed the woodpecker but that's not a vocal thing, just the tapping.


The_Doc

4,914 posts

221 months

Saturday 11th May
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And this afternoon just before I fire up the lawnmower,
a cuckoo in the woods, just cuckoo-ing away.
I've been in Milan for the week, and the busy city was exciting and dynamic and the food was awesome. But home is where the birds are.

It should be said that I live about 500m from RSB Geltsdale, so these spots are unfair and skewed.
But hooray for birdsong.

Simpo Two

85,754 posts

266 months

Sunday 12th May
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The_Doc said:
It should be said that I live about 500m from RSB Geltsdale, so these spots are unfair and skewed.
But hooray for birdsong.
Except for the dawn chorus in summer when you have to sleep with the windows open and then the feathery bds wake you up...

TimmyMallett

Original Poster:

2,884 posts

113 months

Monday 13th May
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The_Doc said:
But hooray for birdsong.
I've started actively listening now for anything 'unusual' and spotted a couple of Jays this morning in a park, and and a Goldfinch in a bush by my gym yesterday which is in the middle of a big retail park.

biggiles

1,737 posts

226 months

Monday 13th May
quotequote all
The Merlin app is amazing.

It doesn't recognise (or chooses not to) some non-local birds e.g. guinea fowl or pheasant, perhaps because they come from Africa / China and aren't considered native.

TheBALDpuma

5,851 posts

169 months

Monday 13th May
quotequote all
biggiles said:
The Merlin app is amazing.

It doesn't recognise (or chooses not to) some non-local birds e.g. guinea fowl or pheasant, perhaps because they come from Africa / China and aren't considered native.
I've had it pick up pheasents plenty times, just needs the bird to be close and do a few calls I think

biggiles

1,737 posts

226 months

Monday 13th May
quotequote all
TheBALDpuma said:
biggiles said:
The Merlin app is amazing.

It doesn't recognise (or chooses not to) some non-local birds e.g. guinea fowl or pheasant, perhaps because they come from Africa / China and aren't considered native.
I've had it pick up pheasents plenty times, just needs the bird to be close and do a few calls I think
Good to hear - I will try to get closer. I have had it very close to guinea fowl and hens, and it hasn't picked up those.

The_Doc

4,914 posts

221 months

Monday 13th May
quotequote all
You aren't missing much if you aren't hearing pheasant calls. Certainly domestic ring neck pheasants

They squark periodically, tunelessly and idiotically, followed by a epileptic style feather flapping,
And then silence

Repeat on a 10 min cycle

Bonefish Blues

27,019 posts

224 months

Monday 13th May
quotequote all
Our best are the ravens which occasionally visit the sequoias across the road. Such a distinctive call that the app's not really needed, but I checked when I first heard them, just to make sure because I didn't realise we have any in Oxon. On red letter days they ride the mini updraft from the trees smile It's the LBJs in the hedges and bushes where it really helps, I find.

Simpo Two

85,754 posts

266 months

Monday 13th May
quotequote all
biggiles said:
The Merlin app is amazing.

It doesn't recognise (or chooses not to) some non-local birds e.g. guinea fowl or pheasant, perhaps because they come from Africa / China and aren't considered native.
If they're born here then they must be native - well it works for humans.