[Closed] Best bird you have seen!?

unovolo - Member

A nuthatch(couple of years ago) and today loads of Mandarin ducks,both at Compstall nr Stockport.

The other week while riding home I saw a Short Eared Owl hunting when it was dusk. An amazing sight to see and a rare one as well.

TandemJeremy

Sea eagles on Mull. Just huge. Beautiful birds

This. Saw a pair of them hunting from the trees on the hill above the loch on the way into the Talisker distillery on Syke. Amazing.

Takahe in New Zealand. Mad as a box of frogs!

Any bird that looks that rediculous and sounds like a depressed goose deserves to be eaten!

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I think its a 'surely faced shite hawk'.....

Kiwi and Kea in NZ. Totally different personalities. Watching carefully in complete silence to see the Kiwi and then shooing the Kea off the campervan to stop them trashing the thing.

Ospreys at Boat of Garten and Kingfishers on the Runcorn canal are highlights in the UK though I love to watch Starlings flocking before roosting too.

A bittern in the middle of last winter walking across an ice covered river. It then nestled down on the bank with loads of people on the bridge above. Mind you it was -15 deg C and it had eaten a huge trout earlier apparently so it was set for the day (a guy had some amazing photos and he was just packing up before he froze)

Cassowary, Papua New Guinea, the most evil-looking thing, I was glad it was in a cage in a zoo

I think it is the locals you want to be more weary of!

The splendid fairy wren looks amazing.

We regularly have a Heron and Kingfisher fishing in the river outside my house. I saw the heron swallow a water rat and I could see it wriggling as it went down the throat.

I've seen a Sea Eagle whilst camping on Skye and they are huge.

The best I have seen was a Macaw on my commute again they are huge and I nearly crashed staring at it. To be fair it had escaped from the wildlife centre next door but still a wonderful thing to see.

I rode past a Pelican just as it was swallowing a fish in Costa Rica! very, very cool.

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Two Golden Eagles swooping across the road meters in front of me up in the Highlands. Regularly see buzzards (or more likely a buzzard as it's the same spot) on one of my summer rides.

Well feathers at least!
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/andreas_helke/179127635/ ]Sambafestival Coburg 2005 - P1050329[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/andreas_helke/ ]Andreas Helke[/url], on Flickr

not really the best bird but quite charming none the less, we've go 12 reed buntings in the garden at the moment. They have continual tail twitch.

I've seen what I assume was a sea eagle up really close on the west coast of Scotland somewhere (think it might have been Mull actually). We actually nearly hit it - wingspan was wider than the car so I don't know what else it could have been?

Saw a merlin after prey whilst climbing at Simon's Seat. Mate belaying nearly pulled me off the rock with excitement.

Last March we had a late dump of snow up at The Lecht, so there were Ptarmigan visible as their white winter plummage was fast turning back to grey/brown.
Also quite exciting to see a flock of snow bunting on the same day, very cute.

Saw a pair of golden eagles on Jura, that was pretty impressive

Also recently watched an assortment of Sea Eagles and Cormorants fishing in Ha Long Bay. Quite spectacular.

I saw Big Bird when working in Philadelphia a couple of years ago - a long way from his natural habitat, New York.

As said earlier I have also seen Golden eagles over the Alps a few times - no where near the size of big bird though.

Watched a pair of vultures watching two children playing next to their mothers market stall in a village just outside Benin City in Nigeria, there is an area used as an abbatoir just outside town where the trees are full of vultures.

Secretary Bird in SA. 4 ft tall raptor with the legs of a crane. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretarybird

I still think a volery of these are hard to beat.
[img] [/img] Gorgeous and resourceful little bird.

But watching Peregrine in flight anytime, hunting or just messing around chasing crows make the hairs on my neck stand up.

Got Buzzards, Heron and Kestrels on my local trail about a mile from the house.

The Loch Ken road is hoatching with Red Kites, must have seen 6 the last time i was down it, including one lifting off from the verge with a young rabbit in it's talons. That was cool.

Did get a frantic call from my daughter once. "DAD, DAD !! THERE IS AN EAGLE IN THE BACK GARDEN AND IT'S FLAPPING ABOUT AND CAN'T GET UP !!"

Turned out to have been a Peregrine falcon having pigeon for lunch. Lad next door works in a wildlife sanctuary and saw it too.

Had a Gold Crest sitting on my steering wheel. Found it on the floor, presumed dead. My well informed mate told me it was unconscious after hitting a window. I put it in a box in my car, 10 minutes later i found it perched on the steering wheel. Absolutely tiny.
Oh, and a European Eagle owl in the Trough of Bowland. Very big and quite aggressive I've heard.

The. They escaped from a farm started living wild. Scared local horses. Seamed odd riding down a track and have one if those long necks rise up from behind a hedge.

I was lucky enough to see a buzzard on a post this morning, near papworth in cambs of all places. wish I had stopped my car now as it was big!

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Ring-necked parakeet, native (now) to SW London. Not impressive so much as a total shock when you first see them going about their (noisy) business.

One of the best was a Goldcrest feeding in my Acer last winter. Couldn't believe my eyes, in an urban garden in N.Wilts. Saw Short-eared Owls hawking on Barbury Castle once while out riding.
Seen Marsh Harriers several times on the Somerset Levels, along with Bittern, and a significant number of the current national population of Great White Egret.
Transapp, the Peregrine in Bath are still nesting on the church, often see them when walking alongside the river into the city.
Had a Tawny Owl in the car once; spotted it on the edge of the A420 driving home from Bristol one night. Turned around and stopped in the pull-in that it was sat on the edge of, on the white marker line. It was stunned, possibly injured, so wrapped it in a blanket and carried on home. It started to rouse, and flap around, so put it in a box and handed it to a wildlife rescue volunteer to look after. Lovely bird to see and handle, and thrilled it wasn't injured and was released back where I found it. Great experience.

I last saw a chuff some years ago.

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Went to a bar in California where they had humming bird feeding things hanging outside. There was loads of the tiny things flitting about. Amazing.

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Theres nothing more pleasing than seeing a Robin in the snow

not seen, but for the last three mornings and evenings a Song Thrush has been singing his heart out just outside my window. Such wonderful varying uplifting song he has.

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Rarest I've seen (for me anyway as its the only one I've seen around here in Sussex) is a marsh harrier.
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I love seeing the kites soaring high above though
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Also love the hedgerow birds. Love listening to the skylarks too. We have a load of them nesting on the roof at work and there is no better way to spend lunchtime than watching the ducks on the pond and listening to the skylarks above.

Great harrier pictures if those are yours?

Not mine. The pic I got was just a blur.

Martina Topley-Bird..

I see half a dozen Buzzards every day but they still catch my breath sometimes.. Owls in the woods on night rides too..

the thrush is still going, 3 hours now 🙂

Best was a bald eagle in Washington. This is the only picture of a bird i've got

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So many..

This years top sightings: A bittern in flight about 10ft from me.
A water rail feeding in the open in front of me for 30mins.

3 short eared owls, quartering there feeding grounds.

Marsh harrier.

And the pretty red legged partridges wandering round the reserve I warden.
Oh! crossbills too.

and much more.....

Wedge-tailed eagles, barn owl (almost collided with head on on a night ride), sulphur crested cockatoos, gallahs, rainbow lorrakeets, rosallas. Been swooped by magpies here also (they are more like a black and white raven than the english magpies and swoop people during mating season). We get lots of birds here.

Neighbours chicken comes round to say hello and scrounge some food, its worse than a dog..

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There was Snowy the owl, some years ago...
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I did actually see a Cuckoo once, very underwhelming, but pleasing as I had only ever heard them before that sighting though

Best for me? Bit spoiled really....
Raptors: Seen a golden eagle today; short eared owls, tawny owl, red kites and buzzards on a weekly basis as well as they all nest around village, work and commute in.
In the season I also get to see Osprey's daily, including sneek peaks at the nest from 30m or so away (wait for the pics this summer when I get a long lens...).
We have all sorts of smaller things as well - favorite has to be the siskins, wren's and goldcrests at work and the lesser spotted woodpecker that nests in our garden.
Through the year I also see lots of sparrowhawks and black grouse (We have a lek at work (often pop in early in spring and take a coffee out to watch them in the back field).
I have seen Capercallie a couple of times - once even with groups.
I am also fairly sure that we have a Marsh Harriers on local hills.

Favourite? I love the short eared owls and capercallie - but the Osprey's are just so accessible and regular and an amazing sight up close and personal....