Help me identify this bird (no pics unfortunately)

Okay, before we start it is definitely not a baby robin – its too big for that.

Size – Bit smaller than a Magpie
Shape – Bit like a magpie
Colour – White with a brown head. The brown colouring starts half way up its neck.

It almost looks like it could be a young magpie due to its shape and size but the colours are completely wrong.

Any ideas?

carol thatcher..?

juvenile woodpecker?

Jay?

What about a lapwing?

On that description I would go for a Jay as well.

I retract that, I read it wrong thought you said brown with a white head.

Young Jay?

i reckon it’s most likely to be a juvenile passerine of some kind

Does sound like a Jay, quite stunning in flight.

Bit late in thruway for fledglings and juveniles is it not ?

not sure, i’m no expert. Don’t some of the bigger birds get full plumage in their first breading season?

Dove with a dirty face?

There are a couple of Jay’s around and about where we are. My first though was young Magpie and then perhaps a young Jay.

All the Jay pics that I have seen show the young birds to have at least some sort of Jay type markings.

This bird that I have seen does not. Also its brown head and upper neck markings start abruptly, like it’s stuck its head in a tin of brown paint, if you get my drift.

The only bird I can think of that has the “head in a tin of brown paint” thing going on is the black headed gull. But that applies to its summer plumage only. In winter, the black head recedes to a small spots just behind the eyes.

Another possibility is the hooded crow but this is limited to Scotland, Ireland and parts of west Wales.

ring ouzel, has an abrupt ring around neck but not white all over

Definitely not a gull despite it’s gull style paint job.

Just had a look on Google Images at pics of hooded crows, that’s not either.

Where was it seem? on the ground, in a tree for example..

Did it have a long or short tail?
And did it make a call or any sort?

It’s likely to have a leucistic condition so it’s normal colourations aren’t present.

Also did it appear to be alone or where there other birds present?

Have you tried any bird id sites?

like these…

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdidentifier/form.aspx
http://www.birdid.co.uk/IdentifyBird.asp

albino blackbird. I get one in my garden all the time, mostly white body, with a black head.
almost a reverse of this one

I’ve just scanned through a couple of hundred photos of British birds, and I can’t find anything at all that resembles that description, at that size. Plenty of small warbler size birds with light coloured bodies and dark heads, but no large birds. Possibly a non-native species blown in from elsewhere. Pity there’s no pic, even a small one.

PSA Exclusive: – New birds species here first on STW!

😉

Wasn’t at an XC race by any chance?

Could have been a Jey.

IGMC.

You get a lot of these at this time of year.They are called the what the fu– is that bird.

Albino Blackbird could well be the answer!

It looks pretty similar to this:

But almost completely white on the body and completely brown on the head.

To answer some of the Q’s from above:

Where was it seem? on the ground, in a tree for example..

I’ve seen it on the ground, in a tree and in flight.

Did it have a long or short tail?

Short – so not an albino Magpie (unless it had lost it’s tail feathers.

And did it make a call or any sort?

Nope.

It’s likely to have a leucistic condition so it’s normal colourations aren’t present.

Also did it appear to be alone or where there other birds present?

Mostly seen on its own (in flight and in a tree) but when I saw it on the ground today it was hanging about with a Rook.

No luck with the RSPB bird identifier but the Bird ID picture of the Black Headed Gull is pretty close as far as the colouring is concerned. However, I know what a gull looks like and this mystery bird is definitely not a gull.

Thanks for heads up about the Albino Blackbird SA.

Do you know the colour of it’s beak?

Do you know the colour of it’s beak?

Not unkown for a Storm Petrel to find it’s way inland, http://www.google.co.uk/m/search?site=images&source=mog&hl=en&gl=uk&client=safari&q=storm%20petrel#i=5