What bird can I see?

I’ve had a bird in my garden eating my apples the last few weeks. Its about 30% bigger than a blackbird, has the mottled markings of a thrush on the chest but they are not the same colour as a thrushes. The overall tone of this bird is very dark chocolate brown, almost black, but not as black as a blackbird. It is very heavily built around the chest area, has a general thrush shape , and white liner around its eyes. Its very aggressive and defends its apples agai nst all the other birds. The only thing which matches it for size is a magpie. Cannit find anything like it in a bird book.
Exotic winter visitor, or bog standard melanistic variant? What you reckon?
Please dont ask for pics, the only camera I have is on my Kindle, and its rubbish.

Mistletrush? Sorry not good at posting pics

field fare ?

Nope, this bird is much stockier, has the evil crow eyes with white liner too. Also, has a very dark colouration.

Let’s assume it’s something common (to birders) that you haven’t seen before. Sorry if some of these are obvious rule outs, but here’s my first thoughts for you to google:

Female blackbird
Song thrush
Mistle thrush
Jackdaw
Redwing
Fieldfare
Ring ouzel (fat chance..)
Some kinda screwed up Jay?

Look out for winter plumage of any, or indeed female plumage, being a little more dull and brown than the first pic on google would suggest.

Nope, this bird is much stockier, has the evil crow eyes with white liner too. Also, has a very dark colouration.

Can we just rule out jackdaw cos that description sounds like jackdaw. I know it’s a very common bird so sorry if that’s patronising.

Fieldfare – they arrived a few weeks ago (winter visitors).

Yay! Success for image posting. Picture above is a mistle thrush

Juvenile Fieldfare?

Like robins, the juveniles, before their first moult, are brown and spotted, before growing the adult plumage like the one at the top, with more grey and russet.
They’re the biggest of the thrushes, and drive my blackbirds totally nuts, when they descend on the bushes in my garden after the berries.
I can’t think of another large, spotted bird that’s thrush-shaped.

Female Ouzel?

Cassowary ?

Baby Robin

This is one we had in the garden a few years ago, bit darker than the stock image I used earlier

(just showing off with  picture posting now)

When I first saw a fieldfare, it was so big I though it was a sparrowhawk, except It was eating an apple.

Hmm ,Fieldfare is a possibility, but it is very dark, also much larger than the blackbirds which are hovering around the apple tree, hoping the fat git will bugger off so they can have some too.

Redwings arrive with Fieldfares and are similar but slightly smaller so perhaps not….

I like Fieldfares,they don’t take any shit from the Blackbirds when it comes to who’s avin them apples.:-)
Sounds like it might be a Redwing though.

I’ve had redwings before in my garden, but this bird is much much larger, same barrel chest as a pigeon but very obviously part of the thrush tribe. Built like a roidhead with the attitude to match, not scared of magpies either.
Chest colouration is what has thrown me, it has thrush markings, but they are black over a background of dark brown and reddish.
Google a melanistic jaguar cat. The chest is those colours, but stripey not rosetted.

If it’s in the thrush family and big then you’ve only got Mistle thrush and Fieldfare to choose from.

Juvenile Golden Eagle

Im gonna go with a darker than usual Fieldfare then, even though it lacks the grey cap and lighter areas.
Whatever it is can put the apples away, theyre there all day, either eating apples or sitting on the floor giving all the other birds the eye.

aide
Full Member

Mistletrush? Sorry not good at posting pics

I miss my mistlethrush :( Used to see him all the time, stood on top of the clothes pole like an idiot, thinking it was a tree. Gorgeous wee beastie.

Well for someone who needs facts and closure at the end of things, this thread is doing my head in :-)

Can you find a passer by with a phone camera? We might be missing out on a rare bird sighting here and other than Big Bird up there ^^^ the suggestions have been less than awe inspiring. I am going for a Juvenile Pterodactyl ……….prove me wrong :-)

Is it a California Quail?

Which bird has my dad been seeing?

I’ve found another photo of a juvenile fieldfare, showing its back and wings a bit better, and it’s quite dark, so under some lighting conditions it could look as dark as a blackbird.

Are fieldfares not usually in flocks?

Yes usually. We get a couple hundred coming each year and they mostly flock together.

Are fieldfares not usually in flocks?

Depends, if you’re out in the country, you’ll mostly see them in flocks, along with redwings, but if they come into urban areas, they seem to split up; last time I saw them around, there were two or three on my hedge out front after the berries, which was driving the blackbirds nuts, the fieldfares didn’t give a toss! But then, they’re about half as big again in size, redwings are closer to blackbirds and thrushes in size. They’re all various species of thrush anyway. I think they tend to spread out a lot more in towns, there’s never really enough food in one location for a whole flock, so they split up.

Had the binos out ready over the weekend ready for mystery thrush to turn up, but seeing as all the apples on his favourite tree have been clobbered,he has probably moved on to orchards anew.
Im gonna assume, from descriptions of behaviour and size, that it was a Fieldfare with unusually dark colourations.

I’ve had redwings before in my garden, but this bird is much much larger

You sure it’s not just closer than the redwings were?

based on the description of size i’d have said mistle thrush, which is the largest of the UK thrushes, but the colours described are those of fieldfare. Both are fairly aggressive and fond of fruit, fieldfares in particular like apples. mistle thrushes are usually found singly or in small groups whereas fieldfare occur in numbers anywhere from one or two to hundreds.

if you get a good look at body proportions and it seems rather long tailed and long winged in flight it could be mistle thrush whereas if it clearly has a grey head its a fieldfare. also listen out for it calling – mistle thrush call is often likened to one of those football rattles. fieldfare often make a sort of hoarse “chuckling” sound

so, there are overlapping ID factors that can’t easily be resolved without a photo but in all probability you’ve got a fieldfare.

Nominated for Worst Thread of the Week.

A mystery thrush with an unsatisfactory conclusion… urgh.

agreed. thrush problems are never satisfactory

The Fieldfares here arrive as a flock of about 200, but by now (they’ve been 2 or 3 weeks) they are spreading out in small groups and pairs to strip the berries off everything on the mountainside, before they come to my holly tree on Boxing day and strip that.

Hmm ,Fieldfare is a possibility, but it is very dark, also much larger than the blackbirds which are hovering around the apple tree

I’m picking through the clues here…

Blackbirds can’t hover. Kestrels can. But, I’ve a feeling that you don’t get many kestrels around your area, but do get kites. So it’s bigger than a kite which means………..golden eagle!

Unless it was a typo and you meant the blackbirds are hoovering?

This should clear it up