sherl789lock
New member
Hi,
Could somebody please help me identify a bird of prey that I've seen in Cheshire over the last couple of days - unfortunately I wasn't carrying a camera so didn't get a picture. I know nothing about larger birds (although I've started to enjoy spotting and identifying the smaller, garden varieties), so forgive me if it's something obvious like a kestrel - it was difficult to tell because it was sitting rather than flying.
I first saw it in the garden yesterday, sitting about 15 feet above me in a downy birch, where it was causing a lot of commotion amongst the smaller birds. It seemed to be about the size of a crow and, from below, appeared to be a uniform chestnut brown colour. It had yellow eyes. However, it has quite a small head and when I saw it, I had a confusing moment where it looked like a pigeon although it was obviously a bird of prey. It's feathers appeared to be slightly slightly fluffed up so I wasn't sure whether that was causing the illusion. Today, I either saw it again, or a very similar one, but it appeared much bigger - the size of a buzzard (please don't give me the small, far away joke). Again it was sitting on a branch, but I got a better look at it and the underside of the tail was grey white and slightly striped. Again, the head seemed out of proportion with the rest of it and seemed to rest on a much bigger body.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Could somebody please help me identify a bird of prey that I've seen in Cheshire over the last couple of days - unfortunately I wasn't carrying a camera so didn't get a picture. I know nothing about larger birds (although I've started to enjoy spotting and identifying the smaller, garden varieties), so forgive me if it's something obvious like a kestrel - it was difficult to tell because it was sitting rather than flying.
I first saw it in the garden yesterday, sitting about 15 feet above me in a downy birch, where it was causing a lot of commotion amongst the smaller birds. It seemed to be about the size of a crow and, from below, appeared to be a uniform chestnut brown colour. It had yellow eyes. However, it has quite a small head and when I saw it, I had a confusing moment where it looked like a pigeon although it was obviously a bird of prey. It's feathers appeared to be slightly slightly fluffed up so I wasn't sure whether that was causing the illusion. Today, I either saw it again, or a very similar one, but it appeared much bigger - the size of a buzzard (please don't give me the small, far away joke). Again it was sitting on a branch, but I got a better look at it and the underside of the tail was grey white and slightly striped. Again, the head seemed out of proportion with the rest of it and seemed to rest on a much bigger body.
Thanks for any suggestions.
