On 2013-07-03 16:50:54 +0100, echinosum said:
'Sacha[_10_ Wrote:
;986649']I'm also going to put this in the bird group but I have twice
seen a
new-to-us bird in the garden that I don't know. One of the nursery team
has seen it, too and he doesn't know it either. I saw it from a
distance so my description isn't going to be perfect! It's a bit bigger
than a blackbird and appears to have a dark back and belly. But it has
white cheeks and (I think) a pale 'chin' and white flashes in the
wings. If the bird I saw this morning is the same as the one I saw a
few days ago, the white wing markings are very distinctive as it flies
away from you, against the dark brown or black of its body. There may
be a flash of white on the tail and there may be a lighter brown or
chestnut cap to its head but I'm not at all sure of those. On both
occasions, it was feeding under conifers, once under the Atlantic cedar
and once under the Pinus montezumae. It was feeding from the ground
with an aggressive and frequent stabbing motion.
We live surrounded by farmland in the South Hams and our garden has
extensive cover for birds.
The kind of birds that are of thrush size or a bit larger and peck the
ground with a strong stabbing motion are mainly:
woodpeckers
waders
thrushes
crows
So if we are content that it is not a ring ouzel (and a juvenile doesn't
meet the description either) or leucistic blackbird, there aren't really
any other thrushes it could be. There's no crow meeting that
description. No woodpecker, juvenile, female or otherwise meets the
description. So I'm wondering if this could be a wader, as these often
have white wing flashes. Lapwing is most common but has white
underparts. Redshank have dark underparts in the breeding seasons, and
is the only other thing I can think of in about the right size range. so
that's something to consider.
It was too small for a crow and didn't have the movements or coloration
of a thrush. While we're not far from the Dart as the bird flies, we've
never seen waders here and its legs weren't long enough either, so the
woodpecker idea still seems most likely. Needless to say, we haven't
seen it again!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk