• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Ring Ouzel? (1 Viewer)

ahoare

Active member
Climbing in the north of Scotland over an area of scree and small boulders interspersed with heather and grass, I have encountered a party of noisy aggressive sounding blackbird-like birds. I did not see them through binocs as I was concentrating on my own safety (v.steep). I asked a local stalker what they were and he referred to them as 'mountain blackbirds'. I hasd thought that if they were Ring Ouzels, then the 'ring' would be easy to see. It was not and the main difference, other than the alarm call, was a faint whitish colouring under the wing.
Any ideas?
 
Hi ahoare. I cannot help you out with your I.D. question, but, I would like to welcome you to BirdForum on behalf of those of us on staff here.

Someone should be along shortly to offer you some suggestions.
 
Last edited:
Hi and welcome to birdforum. Mountain Blackbird is a common enough term for the Ring Ouzel, as these thrushes are the mountain cousin of the regular Blackbird. Young first winter birds are not particularly spectacular and the white crescent is not really visible. They are migratory, so won't be here for much longer.
Regards,
Andy
 
not sure what you seen, could be juvenile crows, they like to argue with each other! but welcome to bird forum!
 
If this was fairly recently then I suspect they were Mistle Thrushes. There are good numbers of them moving all over the Highlands at the moment. The flocks are very noisy as they move over the hillsides.
Would think it unlikely to encounter Ring Ouzel in such groups, though possibly a family group if your sighting was a couple of months ago.
Most if not all Ring Ouzels have now departed.
 
You can get Ring Ouzels in groups at times, particularly if there is a good food source to attract them. A friend of mine saw 17 together (lucky ******).

The white crescent can be quite hard to see on some birds, not only juveniles but also some females, probably young ones. Our birds are not showing much sign of migrating so far - a few can still be around in late October.
 
jpoyner said:
If this was fairly recently then I suspect they were Mistle Thrushes. There are good numbers of them moving all over the Highlands at the moment. The flocks are very noisy as they move over the hillsides.
Would think it unlikely to encounter Ring Ouzel in such groups, though possibly a family group if your sighting was a couple of months ago.
Most if not all Ring Ouzels have now departed.

Actually they were seen in late August and definitely not Mistle Thrushes; we did see a flock of around 50. I am now fairly happy that they are Ring Ouzels.

Many thanks to all who replied.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 19 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top