stevethehydra
Well-known member
Today in Headingley, Leeds I saw a flock of maybe 15-20 birds pass overhead that were about the same size and shape as Starlings, but the flight style and flock organisation was notably different - the flock was fairly loose with birds overtaking each other, splitting off and rejoining, and the flight style seemed thrush-like with flapping alternating with gliding (as opposed to a similarly sized flock of Starlings seen an hour or so later which stayed tightly together with each bird preserving its place in the unit, and fast, constant flapping).
They were silhouetted against a grey sky and passing over quickly so I didn't try to photograph them, therefore don't expect a definite ID, but the only thing I could think of that fit was Redwings - while I have seen Mistle Thrushes flocking together in groups of maybe 8-10, I've never seen as many as this together and they seemed much too small for Mistle (while simultaneously much too big for sparrows, finches etc). However I thought it was a bit early for Redwings to be this far south yet... am I wrong? Is there anything else plausible they could have been?
They were silhouetted against a grey sky and passing over quickly so I didn't try to photograph them, therefore don't expect a definite ID, but the only thing I could think of that fit was Redwings - while I have seen Mistle Thrushes flocking together in groups of maybe 8-10, I've never seen as many as this together and they seemed much too small for Mistle (while simultaneously much too big for sparrows, finches etc). However I thought it was a bit early for Redwings to be this far south yet... am I wrong? Is there anything else plausible they could have been?
