Favourite birds

[peregrine]

There are quite a few people reading this forum, but only a handful using it. Come on folks don't be shy, join in and have a bit of banter. Here's an easy to reply to subject for all us bird lovers...What are your top three favourite birds. They could be for whatever reason, and you may like to consider your options because as bird lovers we love ALL birds, but try and pick a top three mmmmm.... not so easy after all is it. I've chosen from the three that have given me most pleasure since childhood, two of which never fail to lift my spirits with there beautiful song. And one from outings to the countryside as a boy, it's flutey call still thrills me.

[IanF]

A real toughie as there are so many!

Common Redstart has always been a firm favourite for me and comes out top. A regular summer visitor in the area I hale from but sadly pretty scarce in the area I now live.

Black Grouse have always been a favourite too - as much for the area and habitat - though seen far less often nowadays as it's quite a trip to get to them.

Owls have always been a favourite too - locally we're blessed with winter Short-eared's entertaining to watch - as are the Barn Owls when you can find one! Little and Tawny are around but my favourite is the the Long-eared Owl.

[steve Lynas]

can still remember my first ever sparrowhawk an the applegarth in Guisborough in 1973 as though it were yesterday, They are still a pleasure to see now, Other birds are Goldfinch and Dunnock.
Sparrowhawk and Goldfinch much more abundant today than in the 1970s

[Sylvia and Mick]

Really hard to decide which were my favourite three but decided upon the dipper as being one of my favourites.  First seen on my favourite destination the Isle of Mull and now regularly seen in our local area.  Secondly the little owl which now seems easier to find than the tawny around here and thirdly the swift which I love to hear screeching in the summer and miss when they leave.

[peregrine]

Good shout for the Dipper there lapland, first time I saw one walk underwater it seemed remarkable.

[gsmithsummerhill]

Common Redstart has always been a firm favourite for me and comes out top. A regular summer visitor in the area I hale from but sadly pretty scarce in the area I now live.

That's a bogey bird for me, I have seen Black Redstart a few times, but have been unable to see Common Redstart.

Any birds of Prey are probably my favourites, I could watch them all day soaring in the sky!

As for Garden Birds, I have a soft spot for Goldfinch and 'My' robin which takes mealworms from my hand quite regularly

[tadpole]

Redstarts good, there was a female in my garden yesterday.

Favourites-

Curlew, used to live at Keld, their song on a quiet spring evening was fantastic.
Oystercatcher, comical.
Gannet, first time I saw them at Bempton I was spell bound.

[Ian Bond]

I tend to side with the wildlife presenter Iolo Williams who once said "Most birds are little brown farty things".     On the other hand there are so many birds that simply take your breath away and you couldn't imagine a world without them.  Choosing three is just not fair but here goes.

Third place was tough; I like noisy birds and on that score I reckon the African Fish Eagles, with their reverberating calls, were surely the heralds of creation but the blackbird has a direct line to the soul, so blackbird it is.

My favourite group of animals of any sort are ducks but there are just so many to choose from.  Anyway for second place I've gone for the Bufflehead; they are so cute I could just pick them up, put them in the bath and feed them hovis all day.

First place though must go to the Jackdaw; they are smart birds in every sense and I love their cheeky, chacking calls.

[Steve H]

The birds that first caught my enthusiasm were House Martins. As a kid I watched them flying along the stretch of Sandy Beck between Saltersgill and the palladium

Swifts seem to do great at the fascinating bird job description too

I cant think of the third there's too many candidates to chose from Waxwings, Kingfishers, Tawny Owls, Firecrests crossbills...I'll have to sort a rota system

[bryanH]

1st: It has to be the Wren. A bird with attitude. Always close-by.
2nd: Kestrel. Hangs around while a sort out my camera settings
3rd: Blackbird. For me, the best song!

[peregrine]

Great choice for your number 1 bryan, I almost installed it in my top three behind curlew and blackbird. The robin only just pipped it into third by virtue of its merry song on the gloomiest of November mornings. 

[steveduke]

Good one. No point in putting spectaculars like Black Vulture or Eleonora's Falcon in Majorca, so here's my favourite three from my 'patch' around Marske:
Swallow. The first one of the spring heading north up the coast (usually into a brutal headwind!) Always gives me a great, 'summer's coming' thrill.
Fulmar. Cruising effortlessly up and down, close in off Marske Headlands. Could watch them for hours.
Oystercatcher. The sound, not the sight, of them very late on a late summer evening on Marske beach. Always reminds me of the first week when I moved to this beautiful coast eleven years ago.

[peregrine]

Aberdeen's a good place for oystercatchers Steve, the city is full of them, as common as starlings ! They even nest on flat roofs, and the morning air is full of the peep peep calls of oystercatchers as you wake. 

[mark.cooper]

If we go for any birds in the world top 3 for me

Harpy eagle
Scops Owl
Belted kingfisher

Top 3 UK birds would be

Short Eared Owl
Water Rail
Great Creasted Grebe