Sighting in Catford!

[jimbrinton]

Hi. This is my first time on the forum and I'm hoping for help to I.D. a bird. I saw it on a river (small and reedy area) this morning 21/1/10. It was small, had a black body and a shiny turquoise head and back of neck/ top half of back. It was flying low, following the course of the river. That's all I can tell you I'm afraid. Any ideas?

[Lance Morgan]

Sounds like a Kingfisher - lovely birds

[jimbrinton]

Hi and thanks for your reply. Too small for a kingfisher I think and no other colouring visible other than black !!?? Let me know if you think of anything else please.

[thebeard]

can only assume it is either a kingfisher, whichcan appear dark and dull in the wrong light, and they are pretty small (i was surprised to find how small they were in real life), or perhaps a grey wagtail, as these frequent rivers and you often see them flying down them in this way, they have a blue/grey head and back, though there is yellow on them too...

[Jason Green]

Hi Jim, and welcome to WAB!

Which river is this? I can't really think of any that match the description other than Kingfisher. It may be a bit bedragled or out of condition through our hard winter - or the feathers may be reflecting nearby colours - or at least subdued a little! Can you get a photo - or do you have one, at all?

Take care,

Jason

[Picidae]

Hi Jim

I agree with Lance and Jason i'm afraid! No other wild British bird shows a turquoise head in flight. Despite wings being dark blue and front russet, in fast active flight, all you tend to see is a very dark small bird with flashes of turquoise on head and back. The flight pattern is typical ie. flying low following path of river. (Size in the field is always deceptive and Kingfishers certainly look larger perched than in flight imo)

[pressld2]

And they can sometimes get rather muddy too so it may have had dark mud covering the russet underparts.

Dave P.

[Tringa]

My vote is for kingfisher too. Even though their iridescence produces the stunning sight we often see in photos and videos it can it in certain light make them look dull and as Jason has said, times have been hard recently.

I used to work in an office overlooking Limehouse Cut, close the Limehouse Basin, which is not too far from your sighting and we saw kingfidhers fairly regularly.

[nigel_b]

On a river, small, shiny turquoise head and back of neck/ top half of back, flying low, following the course of the river.

Kingfisher. I wouldn't agree with the "muddy" description though. They're fastidious with their cleanliness. Would be very interested to hear to the contrary.

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by nigel_b

They're fastidious with their cleanliness.

Agreed, very fastidious. But if it's only just surfaced from a dive in muddy water and hasn't had time to clean up yet...

Dave P.