Hello, (1 Viewer)

[KatieM]

I'm Katie, live in Bristol.

I saw an unusual bird in my garden yesterday which I think may have been a female Grackle, does anyone know if there have been any sighting in Bristol before. I know there have been some in Wales. I do have a couple of awful photo (only had my phone to hand)

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum. I hope you enjoy your visits.

I’m afraid I can’t tell what the bird is from the photos.

I think it’s unlikely to be a grackle.

You can read about them here.

Common Grackle - BirdForum Opus

www.birdforum.net

 

[delia todd]

Hi Katie and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. The general advice is, before thinking of 'rare' birds, think what else it could be of more local species. I don't see why this isn't a female Blackbird from the outline. However, I've moved your post to the ID forum and I'm sure they'll have some ideas for you.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[THE_FERN]

Well it seems to have a yellowish bill (it's a blackbird)

 

[Butty]

Welcome to BF.
(Seems to be) no colour visible on the bird at all. Looks fine for a thrush. Presumably a(n unsexable) blackbird.

 

[RichieTwitchy]

I'm Katie, live in Bristol.

I saw an unusual bird in my garden yesterday which I think may have been a female Grackle, does anyone know if there have been any sighting in Bristol before. I know there have been some in Wales. I do have a couple of awful photo (only had my phone to hand)

What pointers made you think it could be a female Grackle and not something more local/common? And please don't say 'Google'

 

[KC Foggin]

Welcome aboard Katie and enjoy

 

[Lisa W]

Hi, welcome to the forum.,

 

[nartreb]

I have plenty of grackles near me; the silhouette of your bird (especially in the second photo, which is a better profile view) does not look like a grackle to me. The beak shape and overall proportions are different.

As the Fern was probably thinking and Butty suggested, the shape looks right for a member of the thrush family. Assuming it was black, it was probably a blackbird.

(I can't see any actual color in the bill. In the second photo there's a hint of yellow-green at the bill tip, but that's an artifact of the camera lens (possibly compounded by software in your camera), known as chromatic aberration. You also see this effect in the unnatural yellowish and purple hues of the bit of sky just below the bird's belly and the twig between its legs, respectively. The purple twigs are classic chromatic aberration, the yellowish sky might be your camera software over-correcting.)

 

[Butty]

I don't think it's chromatic aberration - that's a much more specific and clear-cut lens-originated issue. This looks like regular software/compression/whatever-induced photo-artifact: there are purpley, greeny, yellowy edge effects randomly everywhere in the image. But we digress...