I have a black cap and I am very tricky to separate from a willow tit. Despite my name, I do not like to live in marshes.
I am a marsh tit!
I am a wader and am related to the spotted redshank. I belong to the sandpiper family.
I am a redshank!
I am very exotic looking and I am only a vagrant to Britain. I am black, white and orange.
I am a hoopoe!
I have a black cap
I am very tricky to separate from the willow tit.
I don’t actually like to live in marshes.
I am a wader
I am related to the spotted redshank
I am a sandpiper
I am a very exotic looking bird
I am orange black and white
I am a rare bird in the UK
2. Your answers could have been common, arctic, little, sandwich, roseate or black terns.
3. Your answers could have been mute, whooper or bewick’s swans.
4. Your answers could have been black tailed or bar tailed godwits.
5. Your answers could have been common or velvet scoters.
Here are the questions. [ please note that these are for British natives only]
2. How many terns can you name?
3. How many swans can you name?
4. How many godwits can you name?
5. How many scoters can you name?
In summer I am a jet black bird with yellow and rusty red. I am a very scarce bird in the UK and I am most often seen in winter.
I am a black necked grebe!
In summer, I have a rusty red neck. I am a grebe and I make Loch Ruthven famous when I breed there.
I am a slavonian grebe!
I have a grey back and a yellow front. I like to hop around shallow water.
I am a grey wagtail!
Here are the questions
In summer, I am a jet black bird with yellow and rusty red
I am a very scarce bird in the UK
I am mainly a winter visitor
What am I?
In summer, I have a rusty red neck
I make the sight ‘Loch Ruthven’ well known because I breed there
I am a grebe
What am I?
I have a grey back
I have a yellow front
I like to hop along rocks in shallow water
What am I?
Here are the answers:
I have a red and yellow head and a grey back. I am often considered as a winter wildfowl.
I am a wigeon!
I am a very secretive bird and I like to hide in reedbeds. I am also a relative of the grey heron.
I am a bittern!
I am a tit and I have a black and white crest. In Britain, I only live in the scots pine forests.
I am a crested tit!
I was looking down into the garden from the patio. There were a couple of blue tits on the suet but overall not that much. It was getting a bit boring watching the same birds over and over again. After all, we did get tits in the garden pretty much every day. Just then, a very bright yellow bird dropped down onto the bird bath.
It was absolutely striking but suddenly, it flew back up into the trees and I lost it in the bright green. What was this bird? I rushed to get my field guide and quickly turned to the phylloscopus warbler page. If you know a thing or 2 about birds, you will know that very few UK birds are that shade of yellow.
I stared very hard at the willow warbler on the page. It looked like the yellow and olive-green colour mixture I saw. It must’ve been the willow warbler. I couldn’t find another match. So I decided it was a willow warbler. As this was only the 2nd time I had seen them, (and it was in my garden), my mouth dropped so far that my jaw was touching the floor! I was in awe!
The last time I had seen them was at Emsworthy Mire up on Dartmoor. See my other post, Return To Emsworthy Mire, for more details.
As this was quite an unusual species to see in a suburban garden, I was absolutely speechless. This species is now probably the most unusual species on my garden list (well, at the moment anyway).
Here is the quiz:
I have a red and yellow head
I have a grey back
I am often considered as a winter wildfowl
What am I?
I am a very secretive bird
I am a relative of the grey heron
I like to hide in reedbeds
What am I?
I am a tit
I have a black and white crest
I only live in the scots pine forests
What am I?
We parked the car. We were at stover country park and looking for some birds. We started walking. The path was absolutely alive with birds hopping along, with 4 robins, 2 woodpigeons and 3 blackbirds. We walked down to the edge of the lake and there, were about 50 mallards. Mostly moulting individuals with a few females. On the water, there was a family of swans.
Along with this mix, there were about 10 coots, 1 moorhen and more mallards.
We carried on along the path and came to a small pool connected to the main lake. We were watching a few mandarins when suddenly, a large heron flew right close into the path right by us and flew into the reedbed. He then flew up onto one of the wooden posts and had a bit of a preen.
We started walking around the lake and came to a certain spot in the trees, where a juvenile moorhen was waiting.
We carried on and came to a boardwalk. We went up onto it and found the hedges were full of juvenile birds. There were great tits, blue tits, robins and chaffinches. I even got one to land on my hand! I was really light and its feet just shuffled along my palm. Absolutely incredible!
We carried on and saw a bunch of ducklings heading our way!
Then, I noticed a great crested grebe out on the water. It kept on catching fish and I enjoyed watching it but then suddenly, a blue flash zoomed across the water into the trees. I scanned the trees and there it was, a kingfisher. Wonderful.
We carried on and came to the car park.
The Bovey Birder 