Whilst Out Walking

I thought it would be encouraging to write something about the birds that I see in my own suburban garden. I’ve always kept records of the bird that we see, and share them via eBird, but in 2025 my wife and I decided we would spend one hour each morning, every single day of the year. We note birds as they pass but we have made it a point that roundabout 7 o’clock while having a cup of tea we would look at the garden and just keep a note of what we saw – consistency and comparability. Here are some initial things that owe have found in our records – an analysis of the birds that could be seen in a suburban garden. If you don’t have a garden like ours it’s probably one nearby or it could be a local park just down the road. The point is that these are birds that live near people and seem to thrive while doing so.

We don’t live out in the wild countryside or in the middle of a forest tor on the edge of a species rich marsh. Our garden is just one of many in a suburb of the city of Montreal. We knew we have decent range of species and now we have solid evidence. Many of these species could be seen visiting your garden too once you start noticing them.

In the years we have lived here, we have recorded 124 species of birds in or flying over our not very large garden – 15,000 sq.ft including the house. That’s a not inconsiderable number. Some of them are quite rare, while others we see right throughout every year. One thing that does attract the birds is that about six or seven years ago we decided we were never going to mow grass again and started to convert our conventional lawn and flower borders into a native plant garden. Native plants provide seeds in season for birds to eat. They attract pollinating insects which birds eat. They provide shelter from predators, which is something all birds need. Native plantings also just look so nice.