Garden Birds - House Sparrow to Mistle Thrush

Click the thumbnail to see the larger image - all the pictures expand to 1500 x 1000 pixels. On this page: House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Kestrel, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Linnet, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Marsh Tit and Mistle Thrush. The video links open in a separate window.

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House Sparrow - The House Sparrow is our most common garden bird although perhaps not as numerous as it once was. The adult males are quite distinct from the females with their black bib and grey cap and also appear a deeper brown on their back and back of head. House Sparrows are very social birds and tend to nest together in family groups.

House Sparrow video

Jackdaw The Jackdaw is a member of the Crow family with a distingable bright blue eye.

Jay - The Jay, like its cousin the Magpie, is a member of the Crow family but its pinky-brown body with a touch of blue on its wings make it a much more attractive bird. As you can see from two of the images they will occasionally come to the feeder.

Jay video

Kestrel - The Kestrel, unlike the Sparrowhawk, isn't a bird that you're likely to see in the garden. Kestrels prefer open ground and are the birds that can often be seen hovering over the spaces next to motorways. The male has the more distinctive grey head.

Kestrel video of the male with prey and here of a pair together

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is a fairly rare bird that you're not very likely to see in your garden unless you have an apple tree as they do prefer orchards. Similar at first glance to the Great Spotted Woodpecker but the Lesser Spotted is much smaller and has no red on its rump. The male bird had a red cap which the female lacks.

Linnet - The Linnet is a finch and an occasional garden visitor, preferring open or even waste ground where it can sometimes be seen feeding on dandilion heads. The male has a red breast and cap whereas the female is much greyer.

Linnet video

Long-tailed Tit - Long-tailed Tits are a common visitor to most gardens and often arrive in a sizeable group calling to each other and moving from one location to another in a 'follow-the-leader' fashion. The adults are similar but the young birds can most easily be identified by the pink-red ring to the eye, as opposed to the yellow-orange of the adults.

video of a pair sunbathing and also nestbuilding and feeding young

Magpie The Magpie, a member of the Crow family, won't be many people's favourite as they are well known for raiding other bird's nests and taking eggs or young, but they are an intelligent opportunist. The brown and white bird is an odd leucistic variant lacking the normal pigmentation.

Marsh Tit The Marsh Tit is a woodland bird similar in size and colour to the more common Coal Tit and also very similar to the less common Willow Tit. The most obvious difference to a Coal Tit is the lack of a large black bib, having only something like a small moustache. It also lacks the white bars on the wings.

Mistle Thrush - The Mistle Thrush is less common in our gardens than its cousin the Song Thrush to which at first glance is very similar. The Mistle Thrush is slightly larger and is grey on the back of its head and back as opposed to the brown of the Song Thrush. Its belly spots are also rounder and less like arrow heads.

Mistle Thrush video

British Garden Birds

Third page - House Sparrow to Mistle Thrush