![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Spring gesprang hast
Regularly active feeding birds in our garden:
Blackbird
Robin
Starling
House Sparrow
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Dunnock
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Jackdaw
All appear to be nesting (or preparing to) close enough that our garden is part of the feeding territory. We've had house sparrow, starling, blackbird and robin all nest actually in our garden at one time or another (our garden, I should point out, is about 55' by 30', walled on all sides), but we cut back a lot of the climbers last autumn so I'm not sure if anything is this year (the robins were definitely invesitgating the honeysuckly - where blackbirds have nested before - but I can't confirm whether or not they are actually in).
I will be interested to see, should we get our 15 acres of New Mexico pinon-juniper, what the "garden bird" list will be like...
My bird list as of this spring. Some birds are more seasonal, but this is what I've seen thus far.
Chicadee
Blue Jay
Cardinal
Song Sparrow
House Finch
Starling
Red Bellied Woodpecker
Gold Finch
Red Tailed Hawk
Red Winged Blackbird. (Haven't exactly seen these, but heard their distinctive call.)
I haven't seen nor heard any owls since last fall. Nor have I seen any of our green hummingbirds, although my friend has had them come to her feeder.
Blue Jay - only seen those in Central Park, since virtually all my US birding has been over ni the west (apart from one day - one very productive day, with anhinga and ibis and tri-coloured heron and little blue heron and wood stork and purple gallinule and so on -in Florida).
Cardinal I haven't actually seen yet, looking forward to finally spotting one of those!
Which goldfinch have you seen? There are three in the US, and the American Goldfinch (the one that's all pale yellow with a black forehead) is a stunning little bird.
Red-tailed Hawk is another I see regularly. Have watched one sitting on a telegraph pole next to my in-laws' house in LA, eating a snake.
Red-winged blackbird - I love their metallic calls, have seen them a lot both in California and at Barr Lake (Denver).
Once there was a Cooper's hawk sitting on my children's playset, I've only seen her once, I'm pretty sure it was a female, the wingspan was quite impressive.
It is not unusual to see cranes and plenty of Canada geese around the wetter areas. I live between to good sized parks, so I'm pretty spoiled as far as wildlife goes. The moth in the picture was only from a few years ago, but I haven't seen one of this size or brilliance since.
Hmm, you got me to thinking, there just isn't enough birds in fantasy writing, don't you think???
As with most of my stuff written in the early 90s, it would need a complete rewrite, and isn't a priority right now as those stories seem to be a very, very hard sell.