looduskalender.ee

Wagtail

 

Dear garden bird observer!

 

Many thanks for having found the time to note your garden bird observations nicely! As of today the inhabitants of nearly 300 gardens are observed already and the number of observers has passed 400. Already many interesting and surprising things have caught attention on browsing the entered information although nesting is only at half-term! 

 

 

The summer garden bird diary is at: 

www.eoy.ee/aed

 

 

At the end of June time is finally so far that a part of the garden birds already have a second clutch in the nest demanding food; for others the first chicks are only being hatched. Since the weekend promises both sun and rain it is a good opportunity to make a thorough tour of one’s garden and see if maybe some new bird pair has started nesting. 

 

On Sunday however that tends to be rainy, I recommend  looking through one’s garden bird diary observation data: can there be something that was not noted? Some hints that might be studied and checked in the garden and also in the diary. 

 

-          Starlings have finished their nesting – are all the nest noted?

-          When starlings leave the nest box is often taken over by new tenants. Maybe swifts, tree sparrows or some other birds have come to nest in the starlings’ nestbox?

-          House and tree sparrows, fieldfares and blackbirds, robins, chaffinches, yellow-hammers and wagtails, sometimes also great tits and blue tits nest twice during a summer. Their first nesting ended some time at the turn of May-June, the second nesting is now, for some however even at the end of July. They need however not all nest in the same place as on the first occasion. But have all nestings (also the unsuccessful) been noted?

-          Review your list of birds that you have seen in your garden. Below I have listed the 25 most frequently met garden birds. Has any of these birds been seen but is not yet noted in the garden bird diary?

-          On picking strawberries or mowing the grass you may meet frogs. The brown, rough-skinned toad is easily recognized. Brown, smooth-skinned frogs (common and moor frogs) must be caught to be identified – if the chest and throat are unicoloured and creamy we have to do with a moor frog. If there is a dark pattern then it is a common frog. 

-         In the Garden bird diary at the ”Üldinfo – General information“ tab there is a question about how many you were at observing the garden birds. Check if all garden bird friends have been noted.

-          If you are not sure about the identification of a bird don’t hesitate to write  to aed@eoy.ee. If you have a sound clip of the call of the bird (easy to make with a phone or a camera) or a photo (whatever quality) this certainly helps an identification.

 

As of now more than 170 bird species have been seen in the gardens. On average 20 species have been seen in one garden, at most a whole of 90 species. As nesters 62 species have been noted, but generally in a garden there are 10 times fewer bird pairs and species. In a couple of country homes exceptionally rich in birds more than 30 bird pairs and species nest. Nestbox birds most often nest in gardens: the starling as definite leader, followed far down by great tit, wagtail, tree sparrow and pied flycatcher. The most frequently encountered animals in the garden are toad, common frog, mole and common lizard, in fifth place is the European or brown hare. On average 4 animal species were encountered in a garden, but a couple of gardens  happily had 11 and 15 species (true, frightening for some).

 

The 25 bird species that have been seen or heard most often in the garden are the following:: 

 

1)        Wagtail

2)        Great tit

3)        Starling

4)        Chaffinch

5)        Blackbird

6)        Robin

7)        Greenfinch

8)        Magpie

9)        Cuckoo

10)      Nightingale

11)      Tree sparrow

12)      Barn swallow

13)      Blue tit

14)      Hooded crow

15)      Fieldfare

16)      Swift

17)      White stork

18)      Crane

19)      Pied flycatcher

20)      Chiff-chaff

21)      Wood pigeon

22)      House sparrow

23)      Mallard

24)      Nuthatch

25)      Goldfinch

 

 

Lasting enthusiasm and exciting moments in the nature of your garden!

 

aed@eoy.ee