Common Wood Pigeon

Scientific Name: Columba palumbus

Population Estimate: 27M - 51M

Range / Habitat: Wooded areas in southern and western Europe, extending to eastern Europe and western Asia in summer.

Field Notes: Large pigeon, generally grey-purple, with conspicuous white neck spots, white eye-ring, and white shoulders in flight.

Personal Notes: A common sight around Alhambra in Granada, Spain and then again at Kew Gardens in London.

Red-crested Pochard

Scientific Name: Netta rufina

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Breeds in lowland marshes and lakes in southern Europe and Central Asia, wintering in the Indian Subcontinent and Africa.

Field Notes: Adult male is unmistakeable: rounded orange head, red bill and black breast. Flanks are white, the back brown, and the tail black. The female is mainly a pale brown, with a darker back and crown and a whitish face.

Personal Notes: Seen first at Donana National Park, Spain and later in Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, London.

Goldcrest

Scientific Name: Regulus regulus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Partial migrant, favoring wooded habitats throughout Europe and discontinuously in Asia through to Japan.

Field Notes: Small, flitty, olive-drab bird with pin beak. Darker wings with two white wing bars. Pale area around eyes. Golden crest that is often difficult to see.

Personal Notes: Seen at Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, London.

Golden Pheasant

Scientific Name: Chrysolophus pictus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Endemic to forest and shrubland in western China.

Field Notes: Unmistakable in range.

Personal Notes: Seen first at Disney's Animal Kingdom then later at Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, London. 

Tufted Duck

Scientific Name: Aythya fuligula

Population Estimate: 2.6-2.9M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Prefers wetlands and lakes throughout Europe and Asia. Breeding in Iceland, western and northern Europe and northern Russia. Range will extend south to southern Asia and northern Africa in the winter. Rare migrant to costal US and Canada.

Field Notes: Medium-sized diving duck named for conspicuous tuft on back of head. Overall iridescent dark with white on sides. Light blue bill with black tip. Greater Scaup has white extending onto back.

Personal Notes: Seen first at Disney's Animal Kingdom and later in the wild in Kew Gardens, London. Large breeding numbers seen at a Lake Myvatn in Iceland. 

Eurasian Jay

Scientific Name: Garrulus glandarius

Population Estimate: 40M - 150M

Range / Habitat: Resident in temperate forest throughout most of Europe, northwest Africa to the Indian Subcontinent and further to the eastern seaboard of Asia and down into south-east Asia.

Field Notes: Large, mostly brown passerine with iridescent blue flash in wings and dark tail.

Personal Notes: Seen at Kew Royal Botanical Gardens in London.

Common Kestrel

Scientific Name: Falco tinnunculus

Population Estimate: 5M

Range / Habitat: Common and widely distributed throughout Britain. The kestrel has a wide distribution in the rest of the world, from Europe and North Africa, through Eurasia, the Middle East, India, China and Japan.

Field Notes: Small bird of prey, often seen hovering over farmland and at the sides of motorways. The sexes are distinct; in males the rump and tail are bluish grey and unbarred, whereas in females they are brownish-red with dark barring. Their plumage is mainly light chestnut brown with blackish spots on the upperside and buff with narrow blackish streaks on the underside; the remiges are also blackish. Unlike most raptors, they display sexual colour dimorphism with the male having fewer black spots and streaks, as well as a blue-grey cap and tail.

Personal Notes: Seen at Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, London.