WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON BIRDS IN YOUR GARDEN

Ontario Canada: we keep a list each year and there are about 32 different kinds of birds (that we can label anyway) that visit or fly over our yard. Most common? Hmm robin, sparrow, grackle, & goldfinch in the warmer months.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

THERE YOU GO I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF A GRACKLE DEBBIE.

-- MIKE MILTON COMMON U.K.

Because we use a mixture of organic poultry feed a wild bird seed to feed our chickens there is always a scattering of seeds about our property which is picked up and released from our boots. Wild birds are eager to visit and swiftly clean up every morsel.

This time of the year we have a garden full of hungry juncos, a few common ravens, black-capped chickadees, a few fox sparrows and bluejays. In summer we can add to the above with robins, thousands of starlings, a few woodpeckers, crows, the odd visit from a gyrfalcon and seagulls can be seen and heard above but rarely land here.

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

Mr Cripps….welcome to the forum mate!

Your capslock is on :-) LOL

To answer your question, I have hummers, finches, chikadees et al

-- Hooked on Gardening.....Ontario zone 5b

Ontario an hour north of Toronto

chickadees
nuthatchs
downy wood peckers
pilleated wood peckers
some other small wood pecker?
song sparrows
house sparrows
purple finches
house finches
yellow finches
pine grossbeaks
rose breasted grosbeaks
yellow grossbeaks
cliff swallows
barn swallows
tree swallows
blue birds
robins
grackles
thrashers
humming birds (ruby)
turkey
pheasant
meadow larks
cardinals
the odd warbler…......several species
pereguin falcon
coopers hawk
sparrow hawk
great grey owl
the odd american redstart
black ducks
mallard ducks
blue heron
grey heron?........more like a stork?
wrens
juncos

i think I missed a few

-- Central northish Ontario

We also love the birds.Last year we had these come to our feeders and houses or just drop by for a look

hummingbird
chickadee blue jays grackles pileated woodpecker
sparrow house finch cow birds purple martins
goldfinch robins european starlings blue herons
downy woodpecker baltimore orioles cardinals ducks
hairy woodpecker kinglets grosebeaks juncos
nuthatch (assups) starlings crows wrens

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

what an education in canadian bird life how come you all live near ontario?

-- MIKE MILTON COMMON U.K.

that’s an interesting question Mike..
since we don’t really know each other…

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Mike…Ontario as a province, is bigger than the whole UK. Take it from this ex Londoner, now living here. We also have a Milton is Ontario, fastest growing city they claim, and it’s just a s common as the one you live in :-) LOL

I jest of course

-- Hooked on Gardening.....Ontario zone 5b

Hi Bullseye i have only lived here 11 months there are two strange things milton is derived from mill town there is no windmill now and it doesn`t have a common either.
i do appreciate that ontario is big I just think its strange that all the keen gardeners are there is garden tenders a canadian inspired website?
i was born in harrow middlesex and lived 42 years in ickenham .what part of london are you from?
regards mike

-- MIKE MILTON COMMON U.K.

as for the history of GT… it all begins in Slovakia – a brainchild of Martin!
The journey meanders through the development of LumberJocks (the first community) and now GardenTenders. (Soon to be a third site.. coming soon)...

Why all the Canadians? I have no idea!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

WOW GREENTHUMB MUST HAVE HIS OWN HIDE HE SITS IN ALLDAY OR HE HAS COPIED THE ENTIRE CONTENTS OF THE OBSERVER BOOK OF BIRDS OUT ! , NO JOKING ASIDE IT MUST BE GREAT TO SEE SO MANY OF OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS AGAIN YOU LISTED SO MANY I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THANKS FOR SUCH AN INTERESTING ARTICLE. REGARDS MIKE

AH YES BULLSEYE POINTED OUT THAT I LEFT THE CAPS. LOCK ON . THIS IS DELIBERATE I TYPE ONE FINGER VERY SLOWLY AND I FIND IT A DRAG TO KEEP CHANGING FROM UPPER TO LOWER CASE I HOPE YOU CAN LIVE WITH THIS DEFECTIVE HABIT I HAVE.REGARDS MIKE

-- MIKE MILTON COMMON U.K.

Mike…According to web ethics, it’s considered yelling when you type in Caps :-)

I was born in the eastend of London, lived in the docklands and worked in the city before coming over here

-- Hooked on Gardening.....Ontario zone 5b

Mike, I don’t care how you type … in all caps or not. Anyone who has been following the various threads that you have participated in, knows you are a kind hearted man, who loves life and his gardens. There is no “yelling” going on here. I personally am just glad you have joined us. TYPE AWAY …. :-)

I thought the reason we are all here, is we love to garden. We love to share what we are doing (no matter how big or small), we all pool our knowledge to help one another be successful. We encourage one another. And in the midst of all this friendships are being built … across the world. How special is that??!!!!!

I think we need to remember that there are many age groups represented here at GT. There are many different levels of computer knowledge and typing skills. Our gardening knowledge is varied as well; from novice to Master Gardener. Some of us have physical limitations; that prevent extensive gardening; but work through the physical issues because of the love of feeling that dirt between the fingers and satisfaction of seeing something grow. All these different “places” that we are at, our experiences … enrich this forum.

Petty doesn’t belong at GT. I value this forum and the people who have joined. And I guess that is why I am feeling the need to say something. I would hate to think that because someone can’t type as well as others that they would be made to feel less welcome. Come on now …

Okay, I am done with my rant now and off my “soap box” ... wait, can someone hand me my cane, so I can get off this soap box … hahahahaha!!!!

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

I agree with you GrandmaT. It is true that in general caps lock means yelling however since Mike types his entire message this way it is clear that he is not yelling everything he is saying….Well pehaps is is a good thing, you never know some mornings my ears are clogged and It’s better when somone speaks loudly…LOL.

Type what ever way is best for you, I don’t find it bothersome …. I can hear you better :)

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

and it’s also nice that someone points it out – in case the person doesn’t know… that’s the kind of things that friends do…

When I first started chatting MANY moons ago… I left my cap lock on a few times and was told. I was thankful for the information.

I also appreciate the two finger typing situation so, Mike …. caplocks all you want. We know that you are not yelling.

Thanks Mike, Bullseye, GrandmaT, XO. !!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I agree with all of the kind people here Mike,
We are here to share our knowledge and pleasure in gardening!
So, carry on as you wish!

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

Eklectic…..Am I one of those kind people? I was taking a dig at Mike, and in case the rantler didn’t notice, there a smiley after my post. I wasn’t offended my the caps, as I know some people are unaware that their caps are on when they are typing.

Yes….the reason we are all here is to share our garden knowledge, and have fun along the way, but it’s looks like someone forgot the latter?

Mike….from one Brit to another, am only “Taking the Mick”.

Cheers

-- Hooked on Gardening.....Ontario zone 5b

Hello from USA Mike. Caps are okay with me. As for birds, I live in the woods and by a pond. We get tons of birds. My favorites though are the pileated woodpecker and red headed woodpecker. We also get bluebirds, finch, sparrow, redwing blackbirds, grosbeak, grackle, owls, black cap chickadee, bluejays, juncos, dove, 3 other woodpeckers, ducks, geese, swans, white breasted nuthatch. I am sure there are others I am not naming. They are fun to watch. We provide suet year round.

I live in Indiana zone 5b.

-- wjl - 5a Indiana

I live along the S.E. Coast of Massachusetts, USA. All sightings in my yard or immediate vicinity unless otherwise noted.

I sadly confess, right up front, that in my 43 years, I have never seen a bluebird! Boo-Hoo!

In winter we have Dark-eyed Junco, but they leave when the weather starts to change.

In the late spring and part of the summer, we have Baltimore Orioles. We have seen an Indigo Bunting (last summer—a one-day thing), and a Pine Siskin (also last year, but in spring only for a few weeks). For both, this was my first time seeing them. I may have seen the Pine Siskin before, but not known it. They look like sparrows with a little chevron of yellow that just barely peeks out of the wing flap area. A couple of summers ago I saw (also for the first time) an Eastern Towhee & Rose-Breasted Grossbeak. In the WalMart parking lot on the other side of the nature reserve from us, I saw a King Bird also once.

Our regular birds include a variety of sparrows (chipping, White-Throated 7 others) predominated by House, American Goldfinch, Cardinal, Chick-a-Dee, Carolina Wren, Nuthatches, Tufted Titmice, Blue Jay, Brown-Headed Cowbird, European Starling, Common Grackle, Red-Winged Blackbird, Mourning Dove, Rock Dove (Pigeon), Barn Swallow, American Crow, Northern Raven, Grey Catbird, Purple Finch, House Finch, Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Northern Mockingbird—I heard a bird singing,and it had WAY too many songs in its repertoire, when I looked ‘twas the Mockingbird.

Woodpeckers include: Hairy, Red-Bellied, Downy, Yellow-Bellied Sap Sucker, and the Northern Flicker.

Raptor Types: Turkey Vulture, Red-Tailed Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, Great-Horned Owl (didn’t see it but heard it more than once), barred owl (I believe), and Osprey (nearer to Cape Cod), a report of a pair of Bald Eagles in a town very close by was made recently.

Ducks & Geese: Canadian Geese, Mute Swans, Common Eider, Merganser, Coot, Mallard, & domestics let loose like Muscovy and Peking. I would love to see a Loon and a Wood Duck.

Shore Birds: Herring Gull, Black-Backed Gull, Cormorant, Tern, Snadpipers, Plovers

Egret Types: Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Kingfisher (at the trout hatchery).

Game: Wild Turkey, Bobwhite Quail, Ring-Necked Pheasant.

At my sisters in Vermont (also part of New England), I have seen Evening Grosbeak. She calls them the super hero bird because it looks like they have a black mask with a colorful suit! Her husband reported seeing a grouse in VT too.

I am still hoping to see that other masked bandit—the cedar waxwing—but have not yet.

There are probably others that I either do not remember or that I have not seen. I tried to be thorough.

I love birds. We already have some picking out their houses for this year!
Robin
P>S> CAN YOU BELIEVE I FORGOT THE ROBIN? I didn’t remember until I wrote my name!

-- Robin282, Zone 7, SE Coast of MA, USA

HI BULLSEYE I KNOW IT IS SHOUTING BUT I THOUGHT YOU WERE A BIT MUTTON GEOFF ( I WILL LEAVE THE INTERPRETATION OF THIS TO YOU) . SO WATCH IT OR GRANDMA T WILL GET YOU NO OFFENCE I RATHER ENJOYED THE DISCUSSION. NOW LETS HEAR WHAT YOU ARE UPTO IN YOUR GARDEN. REGARDS MIKE

THE BLOKE WHO HAD MY COMPUTER BEFORE ME WAS A BIT DIM I THINK IT TOOK ME AGES TO SCRAPE THE TIPPEX OF THE SCREEN !

-- MIKE MILTON COMMON U.K.

We don’t have too many different types of birds here in the heavy suburbs, but here’s what we’ve got:

Sparrows (several nests around my house and trees)
Robins
Cardinals (we’ve had a mating pair for years, I call ‘em Adam and Eve)
Yellow Finches
Purple Finches
Grackles (ick)
Seagulls (yep…we’re maybe ten miles from a Great Lake)
Hummingbirds

Last year, I also saw an oriole, which was very exciting. There was also a pair of red-tailed hawks circling our neighborhood last summer. I heard the shriek and looked up, and my jaw dropped.

-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit

Robin 282

you must take notes?

-- Central northish Ontario

Got to see nature at its worst yesterday.While we were taking a break in the sunroom we watched a starling hit the window and a merlin swoop it up so fast it was unreal.The merlin had chased the starling right into the window.It picked that starling up and took off with it so fast it was hard to believe.But as we watched it flew a few feet away and held the bird down with its claws till it finally died.Then proceeded to pick away at it.Yuck. Quit watching then.(lol) Have never seen a merlin before.Nice looking bird.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

oh yes, the merlin is a beauty, isn’t it!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

It took me 30 years to see a bluebird, which now I have boxes up for them. Frankly, they’re not my fave by any means.. We have a friendly little mocking bird that hangs around.. Now, it, is one of my faves.. The songs it sings put bluebirds to shame.. ;)

That’s a nice list you’ve got there, Robin.. You must be tracking them pretty well. I’m just starting to keep track of just what comes in and when.

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT THE ROBIN POPS UP EVERY WHERE YET IN THE UK THEY NEVER MIGRATE AT ALL , ONE OF LIFES MYSTERIES?

-- MIKE MILTON COMMON U.K.

A few years ago, in the middle of winter, while out on a hike Rick and I saw a flock of robins in a tree…. middle of winter… brrrr cold.. and not just 1 robin but over a dozen… huddled up in a tree in the woods!!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

last year I had a half dozen robins nesting on the beam in the shed roof.

-- Central northish Ontario

Crows. Tons of Crows. I swear I had never seen a Crow before I moved out to the Vancouver area.

However, we are lucky enough to back onto a forested area so the bird situation is nicer out back. Woodpeckers, Stellar Jays, and various other birds I cannot identify. Oh! Owls too.

-- Former plant killer. Current plant damager.

Karla…................those crows might just be Ravens, they look exactly the same but the raven is slightly bigger then a crow, smarter too.

-- Central northish Ontario

Could be. I’ve been told they are Crows. Of course the person telling me this was basing it upon the fact that the Crow is predominant in First Nations culture out here.

Now I’m off to learn the difference between Crows and Ravens. :-)

-- Former plant killer. Current plant damager.

I get all kinds of birds , too many to list .

greenthumb : I noticed you don,t have Oriel’s on your list?

-- John in Cranbrook , http://www.extremebirdhouse.com http://community.webshots.com/user/cranbrook2

My wife always called Grackles crows.. Seems that anyone living in the south lumps all black birds into a “crow”.. If the eyes look white/yellow, it’d be a Grackle.. Else it may be a backbird, or a crow, or a raven.. I ran across a great image once that compared the size of each.. Wish I could google it again..

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

and don’t forget the cowbird – with his brown head and black body.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

yes we have Orioles too, and Osprey near by…......too many to list

Karla….....west coast native folklore….........they are ravens. It’s difficult to show the difference as size is similar. Crows can be found in large flocks, where as Ravens are often solitary or small flocks.. I do the west coast once a year and see mostly ravens,.......some crows. Ravens are fun to watch

we get those cow birds too

-- Central northish Ontario

Some more tips to tell the difference:

A raven’s wing sometimes makes a prominent “swish” sound, while a crow’s wingbeat is usually silient.

Ravens have pointed wings, while crows have a more blunt and splayed wing tip.

Crows have a fan-shaped tail, while raven tails are long and wege-shaped.

Besides having a bigger, more powerful bill, a raven’s bill is curved, while a crow has a more-or-less flat bill.

Although crows exhibit at least two dozen differnt calls, and ravens can express themselves with 20-100’s of different vocalizations, Primarily a crow’s call is a “caw-caw” and a raven’s is a low and slow croak and gargle.

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

We have just moved to live in a wood in Derbyshire and we get all the usual garden birds, black birds, robins, sparrows , starlings, blue tits, pigeons etc.
Just recently, for the first time ever I have seen Jays, Tree creepers and woodpeckers.
At the moment we have a Robin building a nest in one of our cypresses and we have a ring neck dove sitting on the nest, precariously in an evergreen tree.
So pleased I moved here.

This gentleman came visiting yesterday with his partner.

I’m pleased someone pointed out about caps being left on…......I had no idea about this…......no that it matters to me.

-- Derbyshire------- English Countryside

ooooh look at him!! How wonderfu. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more pictures of your “neighbours”.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Mike,
I’m in the suburbs of Chicago, and we are getting:
Robins
Cardinals (husband and wife team)
wrens
yellow finches
ravens (or crows, I can’t say I know the difference)
morning doves

There are a few hawks in the forest preserve nearby, but (luckily) I haven’t seen it in my backyard.

Thanks for starting this thread.
Suzy

-- Suzy, Chicagoland

I stand corrected. I was looking out the back window with my kids and there was a hawk trying to catch a snack in my neighbor’s yard. He sat in our tree for about 10 minutes before taking off for more fruitful pastures, I’m sure.

-- Suzy, Chicagoland

A PAIR OF PARTRIDGES KEEP SITTING IN FRONT OF MY PLACE I VE SEEN THEM THREE OR FOUR TIMES NOW THIS IS A TREAT FOR ME WHEN WE LIVED IN A TOWN UNTIL RECENTLY I HAVE NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE , HERE THEY ARE AGAIN YESTERDAY MORNING WHEN WE HAD FOUR INCHES OF SNOW.

REGARDS MIKE

-- MIKE MILTON COMMON U.K.

how wonderful!!!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

We’ve just recently started trying to identify the birds that empty our feeders with such dismaying frequency.
We’ve had feeders forever, but never really had time to just sit and watch to see who we were feeding.
This year, we have identified: robins (of course) three different types of sparrow, goldfinches, house finches, chickadees, a rose-breasted grosbeak (just passing through, since we only saw him the once), pine siskins, nuthatches, flickers, a red-crested woodpecker, and a peregrine who hung out on the fence one afternoon. We have a pair of cardinals, and a half dozen blue jays who will all descend at once when we filll the squirrels peanut station. We hear orioles every morning, but have yet to see them, we’ve seen indigo buntings in the woods at the end of our street, and several more species that we’ve yet to identify.

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

that’s quite the list Dini!!
pretty wonderful, isn’t it

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Sure is, especially since, as I said, this is really the first year we’ve actually bothered to try to identify them.Before this, we just didn’t really have the time or the incentive to look ‘em up. Now, as I said, there are still a few we haven’t managed to get a good enough look at to identify.
Oh, and Mike, I forgot to mention, I’m in Michigan, 100 miles (165K) north of Damocles and GranT. I also forgot to mention the 2 pairs of bald eagles that hunt over our place, and the bazillion or so seagulls which descend whenever the bay gets rough.

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

Mike,
I am 9 hours north east of GranT and about 4 hours east of Ms Debbie.
Living in the country we see quite a wide assortment. I will mention only the ones that we have and haven’t seen on somebody else’s list:
We have wild turkeys, mostly in the fall/winter. They are quite interesting to see walking in the yard, coming even to the feeders when it is really cold!

Turkey Vultures fly above and the other day, as I was walking on the road by the front fence, 3 of them took off from the forest and flew just above my head! They usually hang around at my neighbors who are farmers when they have the young calves out in the pasture with their mommas! Some days, when I drive by, I can see them sitting on the fences surrounding the pasture! They are ugly but when you see them flying!!!!!!

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

what an education in canadian bird life how come you all live near ontario?

Unbelivable! It does’nt matter where I am (forum) 9/10 Ontario will be the biggest audience there. Mind you they are lovely people…and generous.

Flying Rats (pidgeons)
Wrens:
Robins:
Sparrows:
Chaffinch seen twice in two years on the fence
Starlings I want all hot colourd plants next year along with a feeder for Hummers…beautiful!

-- "I am the way the truth and the life - no one comes to the father except through me"

maybe there’s so many of us because our warm months are so precious to us and we really value our gardens?? I don’t know—I was thinking about that myself this past week.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Robins, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Starlings.

-- jroot