Strange Birds in Norfolk

the cobb · #1 (**permalink**) 08-11-2009, 08:26 AM

I saw these two birds in Norfolk recently. I think one is a Lady Amherst's Pheasant and not sure about the other one, maybe a Redstart? The strange thing is the red bird - if it is a redstart - are not suppose to inhabit Norfolk and the one I think is a pheasant is supposed to be very rare, a reluctant flier and almost exclusively restricted to Bedfordshire. Am I correct with my identifications?

Morph · #2 (**permalink**) 08-11-2009, 08:35 AM

The first is a Stonechat the other I think is a Pheasant they come in all kinds of morphs nowadays.

the cobb · #3 (**permalink**) 08-11-2009, 08:41 AM

Stonechat sounds good: just looked it up and looks right, book also said they like to perch in prominent positions, which would fit. BUt the other one, had lots of white on it and tail much, much longer than a pheasant, although I realise unlikely to be Lady Amherst as so far from it's restricted base in Britain.

Jason Claxton · #4 (**permalink**) 08-11-2009, 08:45 AM

Yes I agree on Male Stonechat,maybe the pheasant is a leucistic one?

david156 · #5 (**permalink**) 08-11-2009, 08:50 AM

hi.

I would be inclined to agree with morph on the pheasant. There are a lot of differant colours of common pheasant now and what with all the pheasants being raised for shooting any non standard colour combination seems to be occuring frequently in the wild.
Like the stonechat. Always a good bird to see.

Cheers David

The Woodman · #6 (**permalink**) 08-11-2009, 09:24 AM

I think the pheasant is a Reeve's.

There's been a similar thread recently, I'll see if I can find it.

the cobb · #7 (**permalink**) 08-11-2009, 04:36 PM

Hey Woodman! You are a star! I like to think I know quite a bit about birds, but I've never even heard about a Reeve's Pheasant until I read your reply. In fact, I have about 5 books on British birds and none of them even mention it - and they are all quite recently published! So I had to look up a Reeve's Pheasant on the wonderweb after reading your reply and......that's it! It was exactly like that. Wikipedia describes it a being quite long and that was the thing that struck me when I first saw it. So that's it, definitely a Reeve's. Thank you, now I'll try to find out some more about it.