I went outside just now and spooked a couple of birds that were on the
track on the other side of the car.
They got up and flew off low and making a metallic squawking alarm cry.
They were dark grey and on one there was a deep red tail. My first
thought was African grey parrots but the grey was slate Gray.
Anyone got any ideas.
David @ a very windy side of Swansea bay

On Mon, 03 Feb 2014 15:53:28 +0000, David Hill wrote:

My first thought was African grey parrots but the grey was slate Gray.

They can be. Slate grey that is.

On Mon, 03 Feb 2014 15:53:28 +0000, David Hill
wrote:

I went outside just now and spooked a couple of birds that were on the
track on the other side of the car.
They got up and flew off low and making a metallic squawking alarm cry.
They were dark grey and on one there was a deep red tail. My first
thought was African grey parrots but the grey was slate Gray.
Anyone got any ideas.
David @ a very windy side of Swansea bay

African grays vary a lot in shades of gray between dark gray to pale
blue gray.

Steve

--
EasyNN-plus More than just a neural netwrok http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN Prediction software http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN Just a neural network http://www.justnn.com

"David Hill" wrote

I went outside just now and spooked a couple of birds that were on the
track on the other side of the car.
They got up and flew off low and making a metallic squawking alarm cry.
They were dark grey and on one there was a deep red tail. My first thought
was African grey parrots but the grey was slate Gray.
Anyone got any ideas.

A Red Legged Partridge probably fits the sound and they fly low but no red
tail just pinky legs.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On Mon, 03 Feb 2014 17:59:40 +0000, Bob Hobden wrote:


A Red Legged Partridge probably fits the sound and they fly low but no
red tail just pinky legs.

That was my first thought, too, especially the springing and the call.
However their first instinct is to run and hide: that's why you need a
good beating team and lots of hedgerows to get them up for shooting. BTW
they are a non-native game bird bought in as poults for the express
purpose of being shot and eaten. So, David, was there a fence/hedge
forcing them to get up? BTW they tend not to breed in the UK except in
hatcheries so any left after Saturday (the end of the season) are usually
dispatched by the weather, when the foxes and badgers benefit from the
shoot's generosity.

On 03/02/2014 18:07, Derek Turner wrote:
On Mon, 03 Feb 2014 17:59:40 +0000, Bob Hobden wrote:


A Red Legged Partridge probably fits the sound and they fly low but no
red tail just pinky legs.

That was my first thought, too, especially the springing and the call.
However their first instinct is to run and hide: that's why you need a
good beating team and lots of hedgerows to get them up for shooting. BTW
they are a non-native game bird bought in as poults for the express
purpose of being shot and eaten. So, David, was there a fence/hedge
forcing them to get up? BTW they tend not to breed in the UK except in
hatcheries so any left after Saturday (the end of the season) are usually
dispatched by the weather, when the foxes and badgers benefit from the
shoot's generosity.

These didn't run at all, straight into flight, and they were definitely
not Partridge.
We don't have any shoots in this area so there would be no poults being
released.
In almost 20 years here I have never seen or heard a pheasant even, no
game birds, but Buzzards, Red Kites and Peregrines.

In article , david@abacus-
nurseries.co.uk says...

On 03/02/2014 18:07, Derek Turner wrote:
On Mon, 03 Feb 2014 17:59:40 +0000, Bob Hobden wrote:


A Red Legged Partridge probably fits the sound and they fly low but no
red tail just pinky legs.

That was my first thought, too, especially the springing and the call.
However their first instinct is to run and hide: that's why you need a
good beating team and lots of hedgerows to get them up for shooting. BTW
they are a non-native game bird bought in as poults for the express
purpose of being shot and eaten. So, David, was there a fence/hedge
forcing them to get up? BTW they tend not to breed in the UK except in
hatcheries so any left after Saturday (the end of the season) are usually
dispatched by the weather, when the foxes and badgers benefit from the
shoot's generosity.

These didn't run at all, straight into flight, and they were definitely
not Partridge.
We don't have any shoots in this area so there would be no poults being
released.
In almost 20 years here I have never seen or heard a pheasant even, no
game birds, but Buzzards, Red Kites and Peregrines.

We have up to a dozen pheasants in the garden most days.The call and
take-off you describe could be pheasant. Their colouration varies more
than you might think and it's possible a cock's burnished tail could
look reddish in the right light.

Janet

On 03/02/2014 21:26, Janet wrote:
In article , david@abacus-
nurseries.co.uk says...

On 03/02/2014 18:07, Derek Turner wrote:
On Mon, 03 Feb 2014 17:59:40 +0000, Bob Hobden wrote:


A Red Legged Partridge probably fits the sound and they fly low but no
red tail just pinky legs.

That was my first thought, too, especially the springing and the call.
However their first instinct is to run and hide: that's why you need a
good beating team and lots of hedgerows to get them up for shooting. BTW
they are a non-native game bird bought in as poults for the express
purpose of being shot and eaten. So, David, was there a fence/hedge
forcing them to get up? BTW they tend not to breed in the UK except in
hatcheries so any left after Saturday (the end of the season) are usually
dispatched by the weather, when the foxes and badgers benefit from the
shoot's generosity.

These didn't run at all, straight into flight, and they were definitely
not Partridge.
We don't have any shoots in this area so there would be no poults being
released.
In almost 20 years here I have never seen or heard a pheasant even, no
game birds, but Buzzards, Red Kites and Peregrines.

We have up to a dozen pheasants in the garden most days.The call and
take-off you describe could be pheasant. Their colouration varies more
than you might think and it's possible a cock's burnished tail could
look reddish in the right light.

Janet

I know pheasants of old and it was nothing like one, neither in looks or
sound.
And it wasn't a Jackdaw towing a red plastic bag as the wife suggested.

On Thu, 06 Feb 2014 07:43:48 +0000, Malcolm wrote:

No, they are a very well-established breeding bird over most of lowland
Britain. There are still very large numbers released each year - over 6
million of both Grey and Redlegs, of which perhaps half are shot, with
any survivors boosting the naturalised popoulation - but they became
properly established as a breeding species a long time ago and are
thriving in many areas.

Interesting. I know that the greys are native and breeding (and threatened
by habitat destruction). At the shoots I was with in Leicestershire if the
beaters put up a covey of them they would shout "English" and the guns
would leave them alone. I think that practice is widespread. I don't think
that any greys are farmed and released, but I may be wrong or behind the
times. The red-legs or "Frenchmen" were, as far as I knew, all from the
stock we bought in as poults in June/July. I didn't realise that they bred
in the UK. I certainly never saw or ate a two-year old plus Frenchman,
unlike pheasants.

On 03/02/2014 17:59, Bob Hobden wrote:
"David Hill" wrote

I went outside just now and spooked a couple of birds that were on the
track on the other side of the car.
They got up and flew off low and making a metallic squawking alarm cry.
They were dark grey and on one there was a deep red tail. My first
thought was African grey parrots but the grey was slate Gray.
Anyone got any ideas.

A Red Legged Partridge probably fits the sound and they fly low but no
red tail just pinky legs.
The tail was a very definate RED

On 03/02/2014 15:53, David Hill wrote:
I went outside just now and spooked a couple of birds that were on the
track on the other side of the car.
They got up and flew off low and making a metallic squawking alarm cry.
They were dark grey and on one there was a deep red tail. My first
thought was African grey parrots but the grey was slate Gray.
Anyone got any ideas.
David @ a very windy side of Swansea bay

Conventional wisdom is that odd looking birds unidentified by the
reporter are often jays.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p007yg5m

But apart from the sound, your description doesn't seem very jay-like.

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

On 03/02/2014 22:37, Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
On 03/02/2014 15:53, David Hill wrote:
I went outside just now and spooked a couple of birds that were on the
track on the other side of the car.
They got up and flew off low and making a metallic squawking alarm cry.
They were dark grey and on one there was a deep red tail. My first
thought was African grey parrots but the grey was slate Gray.
Anyone got any ideas.
David @ a very windy side of Swansea bay

Conventional wisdom is that odd looking birds unidentified by the
reporter are often jays.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p007yg5m

But apart from the sound, your description doesn't seem very jay-like.

We have several Jays feeding and it wasn't one of them. and before
anyone says anything it wasn't a greater spotted woodpecker either.

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
On 03/02/2014 22:37, Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
On 03/02/2014 15:53, David Hill wrote:
I went outside just now and spooked a couple of birds that were on the
track on the other side of the car.
They got up and flew off low and making a metallic squawking alarm cry.
They were dark grey and on one there was a deep red tail. My first
thought was African grey parrots but the grey was slate Gray.
Anyone got any ideas.
David @ a very windy side of Swansea bay

Conventional wisdom is that odd looking birds unidentified by the
reporter are often jays.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p007yg5m

But apart from the sound, your description doesn't seem very jay-like.

We have several Jays feeding and it wasn't one of them. and before anyone
says anything it wasn't a greater spotted woodpecker either.

You have me stumped, I can't find any reference to African grays being on
the loose, but at least they have the red tail, but nothing that is supposed
to be here fits, only one not already suggested that comes close is the
Hobby, or perhaps the Corncrake with its trailing red legs ?

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

On Mon, 03 Feb 2014 22:37:24 +0000, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:

On 03/02/2014 15:53, David Hill wrote:
I went outside just now and spooked a couple of birds that were on the
track on the other side of the car.
They got up and flew off low and making a metallic squawking alarm cry.
They were dark grey and on one there was a deep red tail. My first
thought was African grey parrots but the grey was slate Gray.
Anyone got any ideas.
David @ a very windy side of Swansea bay

Conventional wisdom is that odd looking birds unidentified by the
reporter are often jays.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p007yg5m

But apart from the sound, your description doesn't seem very jay-like.

We have lots of jays visit our garden. There are three right now
collecting nuts to plant. I've never heard them make a sound though I
know that they do.

Steve

--
EasyNN-plus More than just a neural network http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN Prediction software http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN Just a neural network http://www.justnn.com

"Stephen Wolstenholme" wrote
We have lots of jays visit our garden. There are three right now
collecting nuts to plant. I've never heard them make a sound though I
know that they do.

Their "song" is here....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1DjzdfpncA

--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK