Birds you are looking forward to this Autumn & Winter Season? (1 Viewer)

[Euan Buchan]

After a month off I’m gearing to get back Birding again next week I’m now looking forward to the Autumn & Winter season. Birds I’m looking forward seeing are the wintering Geese flying in, hopefully more Mistle Thrushes, Redwings & Waxwings. What are you looking forward to?

 

[Julie50]

Redwings are also a favourite of mine, also starling murmurations

 

[bluebirdstreet]

I always look forward to seeing a Robin and also if I'm lucky a Jay.

 

[Georgebirds]

I look forward to the Redwings coming in - my pony field is surrounded by orchards (it was actually cut out of a much older orchard, an acre of cleared land with a few 160-year-old Bramley trees still in the boundaries and for shade - Little Owls nest in the hollows!), so all through the autumn and winter the Redwings are around me when I'm there, feeding on the windfall apples and using the cover to roost. Thousands of them!

 

[Bubbs]

An east coast Nutcracker would be nice.l

 

[Richard D]

For me it's mainly the returning waders - they're starting to already, but not in big numbers on the local creek.

 

[Patudo]

How did the er... birding go at the festivals?

I regret the departure of the swifts (still saw some last weekend but they will be gone soon) and at the end of September the hobbies. I try to put in at least one day at Rainham or somewhere they gather to feed on dragonflies, enjoying the last of late summer's bounty before they go. But Oct and early Nov often have the best weather of the year - sunny, with no hay fever to bother me. I have seen some great hunting from the peregrines here, targeting flocks of greenfinch and other passerines over the river. It doesn't happen every year, but when it does, it's very well worth your trouble. One October three years back there were quite a few days the old tiercel from the pair near my office went soaring up hundreds of feet, before accelerating into spectacular stoops at groups of finches. On one day he had so many near misses, at times on targets I felt certain he could have caught, that I wondered if he was flying for the fun of it - and what could be better than exercising your supreme mastery of flight on a bright clear autumn day?

 

[bonxie birder]

Got to be goldcrests. I live near Barns Ness and if I turn up and there are goldcrests, there is a good chance something exciting will have come in with them. No goldcrests in the first few minutes and I might as well try somewhere else.

 

[Farnboro John]

An accessible Gyr would be a good winter bird, I bottled going for the Western Isles one some years back.

John

 

[earlytorise]

That to which I look forward is filling in the gaps in my list - that there are a handful of annually occurring autumn and winter birds that I still haven't ticked.

Autumn: Siberian Thrush, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Japanese Sparrowhawk
Winter: Eurasian Bittern (I had a glimpse of one once flying into the reeds - not good enough for me)

It will be interesting to see how many cisticolas come back this winter. A decade ago, you could walk down the access road to Mai Po and see so many - not so the past few winters.

 

[kb57]

I'm looking forward to the return of crag martins to lowland urban areas; to black redstarts, lots of chiffchaffs and smaller numbers of blackcaps. What would really make my winter is to finally see a bluethroat in the Algarve - according to birders I've met, apparently numbers fluctuate significantly between years, but it remains a big omission on my local list.

 

[kb57]

That to which I look forward is filling in the gaps in my list - that there are a handful of annually occurring autumn and winter birds that I still haven't ticked.

Autumn: Siberian Thrush, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Japanese Sparrowhawk
Winter: Eurasian Bittern (I had a glimpse of one once flying into the reeds - not good enough for me)

It will be interesting to see how many cisticolas come back this winter. A decade ago, you could walk down the access road to Mai Po and see so many - not so the past few winters.

Interesting - I visited Mai Po in February 2018 and there were lots of cisticolas around then - I didn't really pay them much heed, given the sensory overload of lifers I was experiencing at the time!

 

[Euan Buchan]

Yesterday I heard and saw my first skien of geese in the sky

 

[ThomasStone]

For me it has to be the calling of wigeon starting on the costal wetlands, heard the first group at keyhaven, hants two weeks ago, just love those calls, seeing the Brent geese arrival and the sight of thousands of waders in flight

 

[JTweedie]

I'm happy with seeing any of the winter migrants. But I'd be especially pleased if I see a Brambling or two.

 

[Birdozo]

I'm really looking forward to seeing the Redwings as well, especially when they arrive in larger numbers. Along with that, I'd love to catch a glimpse of the Waxwings, as they tend to pass through my usual spots in winter. If I'm lucky, I'm hoping for some good views of the Fieldfare too, they’ve eluded me the past few seasons! Also keeping an eye out for the first skeins of Pink-footed Geese flying in—there's something special about hearing them before you see them.

 

[hookem2010]

Flyovers of snow or greater white-fronted geese would be a nice November treat. Sandhill cranes as well, certainly more likely if I'm staying within my suburban patch.
I'd love for a personal county first red-breasted nuthatch or flock of pine siskins to show up, although returning American goldfinch and cedar waxwing flocks are always a pleasant sight.
Northern flickers and Hermit thrushes are some other winter birds I look forward to.
A vagrant scoter or California gull or something would also be great.

 

[wolfbirder]

A twitchable Radde's Warbler would be nice, I need to get better views of one.
A Siberian or White's Thrush on the mainland would be a real treat.
And as John said, another twitchable white Gyr!

 

[Stuart Goodwin]

For me it's mainly the returning waders - they're starting to already, but not in big numbers on the local creek.

Morning,

Agreed. There were 14 Spotted Redshank on Milton Creek last week. Looking forward to getting back down to Oare Marshes this month as well.

Regards
Stuart