Bongo Fury

Hi
I just saw a bird fly into the top floor of our barn, while it's mate sat on the overhead mains wires. The bird seemed to pick at the catfood?...It was grey, about the size of a magpie, and the trailing edge of the wings were black, the base of the tail was white, and the rest of the tail black. I've looked at identifiers with no luck, but trying to find it here is a nightmare, as there are 402 species over here, so it's a needle in a haystack job....Has anyone any ideas?
Thanks
Cheers
Helen

Hi
Whoopee...I might have found the bird...It's possible that it's the Grey Kingbird...also known as the cat-bird. I now remember hearing a bird 2 days back, and it miaowed like a cat!...so I couldn't resist it...I miaowed back ...and it answered!...So...It might have been a cat-bird....what a thrill...I've never seen one!
Cheers
Helen

What a treat, Helen.

helen&tony wrote:Hi
I just saw a bird fly into the top floor of our barn, while it's mate sat on the overhead mains wires. The bird seemed to pick at the catfood?...It was grey, about the size of a magpie, and the trailing edge of the wings were black, the base of the tail was white, and the rest of the tail black. I've looked at identifiers with no luck, but trying to find it here is a nightmare, as there are 402 species over here, so it's a needle in a haystack job....Has anyone any ideas?
Thanks
Cheers
Helen

Could be a pigeon that had an encounter with some fresh painted eaves?

Only problem with Gray Kingbird - if wiki and others are to be believed - is that it belongs in S America and thereabouts:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_kingbird

http://beautyofbirds.com/graykingbirds.html

Harry's our continental Twitcher in Residence. Harry!!!!!!! Where are you. 'Er in Bulgaria is requirin' yer services

Hi Mike
I did see that about being an American bird, and that put me off, but that miaow sound was very distinctive, and most definitely the tonal qualities of a bird, so I tended towards that conclusion...but , hey, whatever it is, I'd never seen one
Bob...
Yes, it was a bit of a treat, and on the way home from the local town, we saw a deer jogging across the road....poor thing probably knew the hunters wouldn't be out in the rain...I think the deer usually sit down for a game of poker when the hunters come out on Saturdays...they hide behind the bushes and "Poke" fun at the hunters, because I doubt the average hunter here would hit a barn door at 5 paces with a canon-full of grape-shot....if they did , the tales of skill and cunning would demand tales at the cafe for weeks, as they sit around the table absorbing copious quantities of rakiya before zig-zagging home in the car!
Cheers
Helen

helen&tony wrote:Hi Mike
I did see that about being an American bird, and that put me off, but that miaow sound was very distinctive, and most definitely the tonal qualities of a bird, so I tended towards that conclusion...but , hey, whatever it is, I'd never seen one
Bob...
Yes, it was a bit of a treat, and on the way home from the local town, we saw a deer jogging across the road....poor thing probably knew the hunters wouldn't be out in the rain...I think the deer usually sit down for a game of poker when the hunters come out on Saturdays...they hide behind the bushes and "Poke" fun at the hunters, because I doubt the average hunter here would hit a barn door at 5 paces with a canon-full of grape-shot....if they did , the tales of skill and cunning would demand tales at the cafe for weeks, as they sit around the table absorbing copious quantities of rakiya before zig-zagging home in the car!
Cheers
Helen

See if you can get a pic, and post it up here for Harry's inspection. Sounds like an interesting species whatever it is. I'd wondered about a jay of some sort but the miaow is not a jay thing? I'm no bird expert either that's for sure

Hi Mike...
It's one thing I know nothing about...dickybirds...I wish I did!....As for photos, I doubt I'd see them again, but hopefully I will...We get some pretty interesting birds here, and wild plants....I love the colours of the plants changing almost weekly...currently we have a beautiful plant that looks like a deep purple wild clematis flowering everywhere...a rare treat!
Cheers
Helen

ok if its not a cat bird -and it was eating catfood then its been around cats -so could it be a species that mimics sounds.

maybe its the dawn of evolution -new species.
Last week i had a message from a friend who said she had seen a yellow pigeon -i thought she was joking and replied signing myself off as the flying pink dolphin - when i asked her about it again she said the yellow was underneath when it flew onto the bird table then she found one of its feathers and it is indeed bright yellow -and definitely not paint thats its just touched.

karena wrote:ok if its not a cat bird -and it was eating catfood then its been around cats -so could it be a species that mimics sounds.

maybe its the dawn of evolution -new species.
Last week i had a message from a friend who said she had seen a yellow pigeon -i thought she was joking and replied signing myself off as the flying pink dolphin - when i asked her about it again she said the yellow was underneath when it flew onto the bird table then she found one of its feathers and it is indeed bright yellow -and definitely not paint thats its just touched.

Sounds like the parakeets have been at the pigeons while pretending to be pussycats. Oooh matron

I love (feathered) birds and any wildlife .. I always put crumbs / food out for them ..

I live on a small housing estate about 100 yards from the largest cemetery in Walsall .. surrounded by reclaimed 'wild life' land and get a huge variety of birds / wildlife come into the garden .. every thing from Foxes to Woodpeckers ..

Lived here for around 40 years .. the squirrels play the two Staffies up by running back and forwards across the fence / garage roof .. the Black birds are that tame they come into the kitchen .. although the Staffies never bother about them ..

helen&tony wrote:Hi
Whoopee...I might have found the bird...It's possible that it's the Grey Kingbird...also known as the cat-bird. I now remember hearing a bird 2 days back, and it miaowed like a cat!...so I couldn't resist it...I miaowed back ...and it answered!...So...It might have been a cat-bird....what a thrill...I've never seen one!
Cheers
Helen

Just checked the calender then Helen in case it was April 1st

Brian

Hi
Brian...
Yes...I reckon I did a "double-take" when I saw the name, and the fact that it's an American ? species..., but I'd really like it to be a pair of them just for the name ...There are couple of candidates, like a shrike of some kind, or one of the virios, but the size is too big
Karen...
Not so daft with the new species...we have a family of Eagles which arrive each year...not usually seen in our region, but they are in other parts of the country, and that's the Greater Spotted Eagle, BUT...here's the difference, these ones appear to be a cross between the Greater Spotted, and the Lesser Spotted Eagle, and whilst they don't cross-breed, it has been known....and these little beggars aren't like any other , and they're flippin' big....They flew very close a couple of years back, over our garden about 2 metres off the ground...foraging, but we normally saw them whilst walking the dogs each day. Since they built a solar park on the hill we don't see them, but a few birds of prey have ventured back this year!.....we hope to see the eagles again, as they are startlingly big, but, there are plenty of eagle species around. We haven't had a wolf sighting for a few years, either...the last one was not far off 30-50 yards from us on our route where the solar park is now, so the hares are absolutely everywhere with no predation...massive great lumps of pure stupidity
Cheers
Helen

Hi Helen.

I'm wondering if it was a shrike.

I can't get an idea of how big they are. They are carnivorous and grey with black wing and tail markings which puts them well in the frame.


Frank

Hi Frank
Yes, I did wonder about a type of shrike...maybe it is?...I saw 4 of them in the lane yesterday whilst dog walking, but couldn't have got a snapshot even if I had a camera with us...all fingers and thumbs yesterday....having a bad day with various aches/ pains ...one thing I did note, was that it was a little smaller than I first thought, as I had a good reference point. They must have been here for a week or so , because Tony said it was spot on for the dead one he got off the garage roof....and there's a story to that:
A couple of weeks back , maybe, our neighbour approached as we returned off a dog walk, and said that a man and his pet oaf had turned up in a 4x4 and were attempting to get onto our garage roof to pick up a bird, as his son had shot it....yes, these irrational b'stards shoot anything...but our neighbour said the guy would be ill-advised to try , as we have several fierce dogs...well, that put the twonk off, and we scoured the village for the 4x4, knowing that they live in the village somewhere. That would then result in informing the Mayor that the little s*d was firing a rifle INSIDE the village...anyway, it strengthened my resolve to get a hunting crossbow in case the opportunity occurs to (accidentally) bag one of the genus "nasticus childulaticum" in the bottle and glass
Cheers
Helen