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Tuesday, 13 May 2008

Birdwatching in central Edinburgh

I posted recently about the birds in my parents' garden in suburban Manchester. So I thought it was time to list the birds we regularly see or hear from the window of our flat in central Edinburgh or in the ground directly in front of our building:

starling
house sparrow
blue tit

blackbird
dunnock
herring gull
lesser black backed gull
jackdaw
carrion crow
magpie
woodpigeon
collared dove
feral pigeon

in summer we also see swifts

I recently once saw a grey heron fly by and my partner has seen some sort of bird of prey

I have heard what sounded like a blackcap singing, but that seems unlikely, it was more likely a dunnock, which has a nice song that I can never recognise unless I can see the dunnock at the time!

10 comments:

  1. I really never thought of making a list--I think I'll do that!

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  2. Scot - its a good idea, I'm surprised its taken me so long to get round to it!

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  3. We do the RSPB garden bird count each year and these are most of the birds we spot - although they often choose to hide on that day.

    We have also seen great tits, robin, a thrush and a chaffinch from time to time.

    I love spotting a new face and rush off to my book to identify it!

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  4. jem - we would do the RSPB garden birdwatch too if we actually had a garden! My parents say the same as you - their birds all hide on bird count day!

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  5. interesting... we don't see gulls regularly but we have great tits, chaffinches, robins, jays, swallows an martins in the warm season and more... cuckoos, buzzards, kestrels, thrushes...

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  6. Anonymous1:28 am

    I have magpies, currawongs, wrens, willy wagtails, kookaburras, mourning doves, water tern, rosellas, galahs, rainbow lorikeets. cockatoos, heron, pelicans and many more. It is a blessing to be surrounded by a variety of birdlife. It can be so cheering to hear their singing. I love it.

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  7. Much different bunch than over here on the left-coast of the USA!

    Surprising how long the list can get!

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  8. Polona - good list there - there are buzzards, martins and swallows in Edinburgh too, just not round our flat, thrushes, kestrels, jay and cuckoos on the outskirts

    Selma - I love the differente lists from such different parts of the world

    Rabbits Guy - yes I was surprised too how many birds we can see from what is a very central part of Edinburgh with only a couple of trees and no large gardens in sight.

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  9. Loved going through the links.
    Would love to see or hear a dove - for some reason they really appeal.
    What a great idea to make a list - think I'll try that too.

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  10. i have seen all those within, say, 10 minutes walk from my home.
    oh, and i once observed a spotted woodpecker from my balcony

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