Identify bird seen in garden

pat127

No camera capable of taking close-up unfortunately. The bird is about the size of a pigeon, rotund body, black plumage with grey head. Beak slightly hooked, yellow with black tip.

Any ideas?

Many thanks

OpenYourEyes

The beak sounds like that of a Peregrine Falcon - the rest of the description doesn't rule out peregrine either.

V_Moth

Young Sparrowhawk maybe? More likely to occur in (over?) a garden.

cd07

Going to need a bit more help on the description im afraid!

Pie Man

A Coot

cuddlycavies

Thought Peregrine too. But beak would be very hooked. Was it obviously a bird of prey?

pat127

cuddlycavies wrote: »

Thought Peregrine too. But beak would be very hooked. Was it obviously a bird of prey?

Thanks for all the prompt, helpful answers. I'm only sorry that I can't provide a photo or even a better description!

is it a bird of prey? That's a good question. The eyes are quite large, but not set forward as in my ignorance I thought such a bird's eyes would be. The beak is quite long. He/she spent quite a lot of time in the garden and ignored and was ignored by other large birds, e.g. magpies and at one stage was eating berries from a rowan tree. The body as I've said is quite large and set close to the ground, the legs black.

I'll check all the suggestions against the online photos.

Thanks all again.

Kicking Bird

Just a wild guess,but could it have been a Fieldfare?

Pat's description wouldn't be a million miles out:grey head,dark plumage,yellow beak with black tip,black legs and was seen eating rowan berries which we know is a food source for members of the Thrush family.

Okay,it wouldn't be as big as a pigeon,but they're big enough.

However,it would be quite early to see a Fieldfare;we would normally see them in October onwards and you don't often see them in gardens.

It's a long shot I know!

I've attached an image of a fieldfare below.

swifts need our help!

Juvenile Blackbird changing in to adult male plumage? The head moults last

Kicking Bird

swifts need our help! wrote: »

Juvenile Blackbird changing in to adult male plumage? The head moults last

Yeah,that's a real possibility.

I wonder could it have been a leucistic blackbird perhaps?

See the image below:

jmkennedyie

How about a young cuckoo? Adults gone by now but juveniles might still be fattening up?

Edit: I see that tracked UK juveniles have already started the migration... http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking

trebor28

Male Kestrel came to my mind??