Best garden bird?

[vinnychameleon]

Hi guys im just curious as to what you consider as the "best" 3 birds to visit your garden. I would say my best bird is a goshawk which made 4 kills in my garden last summer followed by cirl bunting and hobby. Im sure some of you have good ones .

[John]

I have had Hobby and Red Kite over my garden when I lived in Leamington but actual birds in my garden are, Brambling, Siskin and Treecreeper with a Sparrowhawk as back up.

John

[agrumpycow]

We get a lot of Red Kites here on the Berks/Oxon border and they enthrall me! The good old Robin is also a favourite of mine followed by Jays.

[Fourwings]

My garden top three so far would have to be;

1, Grasshopper Warbler
2, Black Redstart
3, Buzzard

And if we are counting fly-over records, Osprey

[brainfarmer]

living in a very urban setting i have only one fave and thats the magpie they are showy quarrelsome and noisy but very wary of people. i blame gerald durrell and his 'magenpies'

[GuyF]

Having a Sandwich Tern fly over the garden amongst some Black-Headed Gulls was one of the strangest visitors.
Otherwise, probably:
Snipe
Tawny Owl
Brambling
If you count flying birds then
Barn Owl (it didn't land but it was quartering the field)
and Peregrine (flying over)

[DaiTheDragon]

My 3 most interesting birds are:
Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Starling.

What's wrong with my garden then!

Dai

[rolf]

Most interesting are probably the ones I never catch when they visit.

I was very pleased to catch and snap a Reed Bunting a few months back, thought it was a Dunnock at first glance, but on futher inspection it proved otherwise. Enjoyed the Bullfinches when they visited last year (haven't seen them since), I guess that the Goldfinches are pretty eye catching, but not a patch on the Greater Spotted Woodpecker, never managed to get a good photo, but not for lack of trying.

[aeshna5]

My work garden had some good birds over the years- Little Egret, Woodcock, Hobby, Kingfisher, Firecrest + Black Redstart- not bad for a fairly built-up part of London!

Despite living in more open area best over my garden have been Hobby + Common Tern.

[Wild-Woman]

Although my neighbour would disagree, my best garden bird is our local sparrowhawk-well 2 actually. The songbirds are still flourishing even though they sometimes end up as sprawkflakes!
My second and third are-siskins when they arrive and the ones that always get me racing down to take a look,long tailed tits.
Everything is welcome in my garden though-I just love them all!

[smartie]

I think probably the great spotted woodpecker that only comes occasionally (30 second visit this morning) is the best of all, but of the regulars I'm very fond of the resident magpies that are nesting in my fir tree and I love the long tailed tits.

[andy68]

My garden's tiny, so not much actually comes into it, but it does overlook one of Leicester's parks, so my best 'extended garden' birds, all seen from the house (if that's not cheating too much!) would be:

1. Leicestershire's third-ever Yellow-browed Warbler in October 2005
2. a cracking male Pied Flycatcher last spring
3. three sightings of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in the last two years.

Treats like these are obviously few and far between though, and on a daily basis, I particularly enjoy the Nuthatches, Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Long-tailed Tits that I can see from my window while I'm working.

Andy

[goosey]

I only have Two "Best Birds" that have visited my garden. One is a Lesser Spotted woodpecker that visited Aug/Sept 2004+05. The second was a one off visit by a long tailed Tit. I'm pleased to see what ever comes - it always makes me happy to watch them.