I am eagerly awaiting the birdwatch tommorow.
I don't know why I'm asking this question because I get sparrows, starlings, blackbirds and the occasional blue tit and I get the odd rare fieldfare but for people who live in the country what happens If a bird lands in your garden that isn't on the list?
Coal
Birding , Birding, Birding !
Hi Coal,
If it isn't on the list you record it on a separate piece of paper. If you are doing it on-line there will be facilities to record it. I hope you get an unusual one!!
Cheers, Linda.
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I've done the Birdwatch for several years now. When I first started I lived in a large town and literally counted garden birds (and they were all from the sheet as it now is) but as the years moved on I started working more in the countryside and doing my counts there as well, and so gradually the habitats and the birds have changed. Then two years ago, I moved fully into the countryside and I now regularly get birds that are not on the sheet (eg. great spotted woodpecker, kestrel, pied wagtail and fieldfare). I just list them one the back of the sheet when I am recording ~ if they appear in the alloted timeslot, that is ~ as I know I can add them individually when I input the details online as I have done for the last two years.
Having said that, what I call the 'woodpecker family' (I regularly see two birds and occasionally later in the season last year I had three of them) have failed every time so far to appear in my alloted counting slot! The fieldfares have been absent again now that the snow has gone too, so I can't see I'll be counting them either.
Good luck with your counting.
As we move through the universe may we leave as light a touch as a butterfly wing on the fabric of the environment.