Chris in France
Well-known member
Just returned from a two-day trip through a rural, forested area of central France. I had a quick glimpse of a pair of birds I'd like to ID. At the time I was driving through a dark forest in bright and sunny conditions but these conditions made it difficult to see the birds clearly. Anyway, the birds were feeding on the road ahead and, in silhouette, appeared slightly larger than a song thrush and brownish in colour. As my car approached they flew off into the trees. As they disappeared I caught a very quick glimpse of a brown-backed bird with a brown/black, white-edged, fan-shaped tail. The white edging was very clear and distinctive but I'm almost certain it was continuous, not broken, at the end of the tail. So, my biggest clue to the ID is the seemingly continuous white-edged tail. I've considered Turtle Dove but am not sure about it because of the apparently darker colouring (which may be explained by the lighting conditions) and the unbroken white edging on the tail. I've looked through the books but cannot find any other white-edge fan-shaped tailed birds of similar size that would fit the habitat. Have I missed any?
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