Wednesday, June 8, 2011

What kind of bird is this?

Saw lots of these today on the grounds of Leeds Castle in Kent.



We were guessing it might be a hooded crow (just from knowing the name) or something until it started making non-crowlike noise:



It was nearly as big as a crow, not a little sparrow-sized bird.

6 comments:

  1. It's a Jackdaw; highly intelligent, a good mimic and sociable. I don't know if the sound it's making is its normal sound or copied from some other bird.

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  2. Thanks for that. I was thinking what we saw in Derbyshire were hooded crows, but they were jackdaws it seems. It's been about 27 years since I saw a hooded crow and my memory got it all wrong! Jackdaws seem to have hooded crow plummage in reverse almost. Cute!

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  3. James Daniel had mentioned hooded crows as a possibility the day I took those pictures, but we weren't attached to the idea at all. :-)

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  4. Here's more info on the jackdaw.

    http://www.rte.ie/radio/mooneygoeswild/factsheets/jackdaw/index.html

    I love birds!

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  5. To my recollections jackdaws are mentioned in Enid Blyton quite a lot, especially in the Famous Five books.
    I looked up hooded crows, and they apparently have grey feathers in a pattern that looks like they are wearing a cloak with a high collar.
    http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/h/hoodedcrow/index.aspx

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  6. Here are enlivened links from comments above, and another comment received by e-mail:

    http://www.rte.ie/radio/mooneygoeswild/factsheets/jackdaw/index.html

    http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/h/hoodedcrow/index.aspx

    -----------------------
    You posted about a mystery bird the other day and I (foolishly) hit the reply button without noticing that it was a do not reply address.

    This is what I sent;


    Hi Sandra,

    The bird in the picture is a jackdaw. They are lovely, intelligent birds (we have a pair that live in our garden) and are part of the crow family along with magpies, jays, rooks and ravens.

    Hope this helps
    Morag

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Comments are joyously welcome!