Garden Birds.

I live in a so-called townhouse (condominium in the US) in a Sectional Title Complex. To the south are one of the busiest roads in my city and a national highway. To the north is a small bushy area that's been largely invaded by alien vegetation, which some species of birds have adapted to. It joins a larger valley area of which half has been destroyed by a cement mine. See snapshot.

In spite of these far from ideal bird watching conditions, I have spotted 36 bird species in my 2 small gardens (about 150 square yards) plus another 4 in the complex. Flying over the complex I have spotted 5 plus another 5 in the small bushy area to the north.

How many bird species can you identify within 100 yards of your home?

Here's my list.

My garden:
Hadeda Ibis
Rock Dove
Speckled Pigeon
Red-eyed Dove
Laughing Dove
Burchell's Coucal
Spotted Eagle Owl
Speckled Mousebird
African Hoopoe
Black-collared Barbet
Olive Woodpecker
Fork-tailed Drongo
Cape Bulbul
Olive Thrush
Cape Robin-chat
Fiscal Flycatcher
Cape Wagtail - 2 photos
Southern (Common) Fiscal
Southern Boubou
Bokmakierie
Common (European) Starling
Malachite Sunbird
Greater Double-collared Sunbird
Southern Double-collared Sunbird
Amethyst Sunbird
Cape White-eye
House Sparrow
Cape Sparrow
Southern Grey-headed Sparrow
Cape Weaver
Southern Masked Weaver
Southern Red Bishop
Bronze Mannikin
Common Waxbill
Pin-tailed Whydah
White-throated Canary

The complex:
Diederik Cuckoo
Brown-hooded Kingfisher
Crowned Hornbill
Greater Striped Swallow

Flying over:
Western Cattle Egret
Black-headed Heron
Egyptian Goose
Pied Crow
Cape Crow

Small bushy area north of complex:
Red-necked Spurfowl
Helmeted Guinea-fowl
Fiery-necked Nightjar (Heard)
Black-headed Oriole
Red-winged Starling

 

Wow musksnipe, that's an impressive list. There's something about the big eagles, much like the big cats.

The title I chose is a bit of a misnomer. Most of the birds on my list are not actually 'garden birds', especially if you live in a city of about 1,000,000 people. As an example, the Spotted Eagle Owl is about 18 inches in lenght, and the Crowned Hornbill is about 21 inches.

According to BirdLife South Africa, we have 856 bird species. And South Africa is more than 7.5 times smaller than the US.

LauraR, listening to the birds is relaxing... unless they wake you with non-stop singing at 4:15 AM! The Fiery-necked Nightjar sings beautifully on (especially) moonlit nights. It's often called 'Litany Bird'.

 

Quail, Pheasant, Doves, Sparrows,

 

Of course it depends on season as they migrate, but off the top of my head I've seen in the yard: Cardinals, Blue Jays, sparrows, wrens, goldfinch, black-capped chickadees, red-winged blackbirds, crows, hawks, Peregine falcons, barn owls, robins, Baltimore orioles, Canada goose, grackles, downy woodpecker, red-headed woodpecker, great horned owl, mallards, mourning dove, pileated woodpecker, nuthatches, hummingbirds, wild turkeys, wood ducks, snowy owls, screech owls, the occasional swan or *really* lost seagull, starlings, and barn swallows.

We used to have more, but they built condos around my house and now the woods are pretty much gone. The eagles have definitely moved on, as well as most of the falcons and hawks.

 

Doves, Hummingbirds, Cardinals, Vultures, Chicken Hawks, chickens, Red Headed Woodpecker. Depends on the season, I hear an owl often at night, but have not identified that one yet.

 

Nice pictures everyone! I checked on http://www.enature.com/home/indexNew.asp and it says there are 212 bird spices that are native or migrate to this area.:confused I seriously doubt that we ever have more than 25 different bird spices come to our yard even though we feed the birds. With all the snow on the ground now they are very hungry. Maybe I need to get out of my yard to see more birds.

 

We mostly see wren, chickadee, cardinal, mockingbird, woodpecker, owl, dove, robin, finch, bluebird, bob white, hummingbirds, blue jay, sparrow, and black birds in the yard. Plus occasional migrant birds I don't know the name of.
In the fields we see eagles, duck, crow, turkey, geese, and hawk.

 

Most of the time we just hear the owl, because they sit still and blend in with the tree bark which makes them hard to spot, but if you are patient, still, and listen then you can sometimes see them.

 

Hmm...We have loads of bird-life, but I just don,t know many of them over here. We have Magpies, Turtle Doves, Pigeons, all types of Honey-eaters, Insect eaters, etc., Greeneye Finches, and the odd Pelican, Stork, Ibis, Butcher Birds, Willie Wag-tails, Parrots of all kinds yada, yada.

 

Peacocks and peahens, the noisy seven sisters, Doves, Pigeons, Parrots. These I can name.

Cheers..

 

Why did she leave you? :confused roflmao

 

The Kestrel13! has landed... Thank You!

I looked, I searched, I did everything known to humankind... But, I can't find your list of birds. What, Ornithology lover, did I miss? :confused

One of South Africa's most powerful eagles. Verreauxs Eagle Aquila verreauxii
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.