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What flew over Warrington this morning?? (1 Viewer)

David Smith

David Smith

Warrington Lancs
About 08.30 there were several flocks (perhaps several hundred in total) of Starling/Raven sized birds flying roughly north-to-south/south east. They were too far away and silhouetted to get colour but they appeared light 'brownish'.
By the time I had got my bins they had all passed.......heading south east.
Did anyone else see them or like to 'guess' what they could have been?
Long shot I know but would like toknow if possible.
 
David Smith said:
About 08.30 there were several flocks (perhaps several hundred in total) of Starling/Raven sized birds flying roughly north-to-south/south east. They were too far away and silhouetted to get colour but they appeared light 'brownish'.
By the time I had got my bins they had all passed.......heading south east.
Did anyone else see them or like to 'guess' what they could have been?
Long shot I know but would like toknow if possible.
Click to expand...

Could be migrating Redwing or Fieldfares (or both). But yes, there is a heck of a size difference between Starling and Raven so knowing how big they were might help.

Stephen.
 
As Phil says the size range means it could be one of numerous possibilities. Did the birds fly in a particular manner ? i.e. undulating, quick wing beats etc. Did they call? Basically anything that may help us narrow down the list of potential suspects.

CB
 
Right-I will try to be more specific but they were quite high and I was struggling to look up out of the window.
Wings were rounded as against 'starling shape'
I would say something like lapwing in size-maybe smaller (so forget Raven:-O)
Definitely brownish but not dark (difficult against the sky)
TBH, as it was was unusual I thought/assumed/hoped others would have seen them.

Again-thanks for the response even if the mystery remains.
 
thenorthernmonkey said:
With a bit of Woodpigeon/Lapwing hybrid chucked in
:-O:-O:-O
Click to expand...

You may have hit on something there.:-O

Reading through the replies I seriously wonder if they really could have been Woodpigeon. I have never seen (or noticed) such large numbers but they certainly fit the size and type of flight.
If I ever get up so early again (08.00) I will keep my eyes open.
 
David Smith said:
Reading through the replies I seriously wonder if they really could have been Woodpigeon. I have never seen (or noticed) such large numbers but they certainly fit the size and type of flight.
Click to expand...

Woodpigeon, as a migratory species at this time of year certainly do travel in large flocks. Vis mig at coastal sites especially, and on the continent, and frequent and indeed large flocks regularly pass over.

Sounds good to me - if indeed they were purposeful and in fairly compact flocks.

Thrushes, other passerines etc would, I believe be more strung out, loose and possibly wouldn't have appeared so 'light' coloured. And corvids/lapwings fly differently/ aren't light brown. But maybe you will want to see your own definite flocks to be totally happy ...
 
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