You’re reading this because, like me, you love a good bird. Even though we all say we appreciate every bird no matter how common, everyone has their favourites. Some people pick favourites based on how they look or their behaviour. Some people pick a favourite because it marks a special occasion or reminds them of a special place. My favourites are carefully selected for a variety of reasons. Here’s five of my favourites and why they've made it onto this important list.

Chough

(Photo: Flickr creative commons, Paul Gillard)

Like an undertaker eating a saveloy, this bird oozes style and confidence. A unique look isn’t enough on it’s own to make this prestigious list though, so it’s lucky that choughs are emblematic of one of my most romanticised places: Cornwall. Choughs floating in a sea breeze above the cliffs as I read a Daphne du Maurier is difficult to top.

Stone-curlew

(Photo: Flickr creative commons, Frank Vassen)

The perfect combination of crossness and worry culminate in arguably the bird I’d most like to turn into a comic strip character for children. But the big one for me is that we have the same legs: giant knees and weirdly thin. Luckily mine are a slightly less jaundice shade of yellow. Cheer up pal, just avoid wearing shorts.

Eider

(Photo: Flickr creative commons, themadbirdlady)

Coor, that profile… Strong, striking and beautiful. She’s the best looking female duck of them all, and the fella, although handsome, is definitely flapping above his weight. To top it off we share the same favourite food: shellfish, and love a bit of cold weather and water. If I were a duck I’d be an eider

Short-eared owl

(Photo: Flickr creative commons, Kentish Plumber)

“Why’s that loaf of bread flying around? Oh wait, it’s the best owl on the planet.” They’re a photographers dream, floating in the golden light of winter dusk. But I like them because they’ve got a nice round face and make do with roosting on the ground in a bush. Low-fi to the core.

Common loon (great northern diver)

(Photo: Flickr creative commons, Fyn Kynd)

Canada has given me so many great memories, but none as great as the twilight morning I spent on a composting toilet. I was camping on the shores of Lake Tatlayoko, and had nipped in for a quick tinkle in the early hours of a September morning. The sound that parted the lake mist was the hauntingly beautiful wail of a common loon, and I’ll never forget it.

What are your favourite birds and why? Let us know in the comments below.

Jack