Please help id strange bird

Katbear · #1 (**permalink**) 22-10-2010, 04:59 PM

Please could somebody tell me what this might be? It was sat in a tree over hanging the lake near my house. It flew off due to some crows mobbing a buzzard right next to it. What an amazing sight I saw but can't identify this bird at all. It was quite big too.
I really appreciate your help.

shenk1 · #2 (**permalink**) 22-10-2010, 05:01 PM

Cormorant I think.

Wild-Woman · #3 (**permalink**) 22-10-2010, 05:05 PM

Yes indeed a cormorant.

Katbear · #4 (**permalink**) 22-10-2010, 05:18 PM

Thank you both very much indeed. I've never seen one before and wondered what on earth it was! Lovely to see a new bird

Tringa · #5 (**permalink**) 22-10-2010, 08:22 PM

Interesting observation.

Shropshire is quite inland for Cormorants, I think, but probably others know better.

Dave

diggleken · #6 (**permalink**) 22-10-2010, 08:35 PM

Cormorants are very common roosters over inland waters - on waterside trees and indeed pylons or whatever.
Fairburn Ings and Sale water park spring to mind to illustrate these two types I mention.
Cheers
Ken

thebeard · #7 (**permalink**) 22-10-2010, 10:21 PM

there's squillions of cormorants in notts, helped i'm sure by the trent valley and its many gravel pits - you'll probably struggle to get more inland than that!

Katbear · #8 (**permalink**) 22-10-2010, 10:49 PM

It's very interesting, I'm right in the middle on the Hereford and Welsh Borders. In summer I was sure I could hear a Bittern there too but was told this wasn't possible so I managed to get a very very faint recording of it. Hoping to pick the noise out so I can get a proper identification. It's a very strange little place here so many birds that I've been so lucky to see (not been living here long).

I was very interested in this bird, it was a magnificent sight especially as I'd never seen one, the way it swooped was very graceful. I love learning about new birds I've not met before. Thanks everyone.

tcvarlh · #9 (**permalink**) 23-10-2010, 12:45 AM

Of course there are bitterns on the H and Welsh borders, always was. I remember 'em as a kid. Can't see why they wouldn't be there now.

Anyone says its impossible tell 'em "so's childbirth an' you're 'ere ain't yer?" My Auntie Polly's phrase, (Kimbolton, Hereford, 99 when she pegged it and far smarter than an Oxford Don)

Yes, it's a Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo and funnily quite common inland tho' most folks seem to blank 'em out. They will sit and hold out their wings to dry looking rather like an expended Phoenix. We get them in Birmingham and also I have seen them in Worcester but that is not so exceptional as the Severn runs there.

I do like the shots, quite Victorian in feel, almost ethereal. Nicely done!

h

Katbear · #10 (**permalink**) 23-10-2010, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcvarlh

Of course there are bitterns on the H and Welsh borders, always was. I remember 'em as a kid. Can't see why they wouldn't be there now.

Anyone says its impossible tell 'em "so's childbirth an' you're 'ere ain't yer?" My Auntie Polly's phrase, (Kimbolton, Hereford, 99 when she pegged it and far smarter than an Oxford Don)

Yes, it's a Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo and funnily quite common inland tho' most folks seem to blank 'em out. They will sit and hold out their wings to dry looking rather like an expended Phoenix. We get them in Birmingham and also I have seen them in Worcester but that is not so exceptional as the Severn runs there.

I do like the shots, quite Victorian in feel, almost ethereal. Nicely done!

h

I really love what you've said about the pictures, really lovely wording, we were over 100 metres away though so it was very tricky so it means even more to get such illustrative feedback. I'm still learning manual, my partner has more practice than me but we managed together to capture the bird. I saw it from my garden and had to run a little way down the road to get a better view.
RE the Bittern, I filled in my Bird Track report and had a personal email to say it was highly unlikely to be a Bittern which was most disappointing, I've heard it so many times and I know that "Boom" there isn't anything like it to me. I did record it but it's so faint. I did have experience of another rarity in my area by recognising the song over and over again but because I don't have evidence again it's not likely. I know the Bittern was there so I'm really hoping it starts booming again next year and I can capture it properly.
Your post has given me hope! I was beginning to feel jinxed, although lucky to be experiencing such things it was just unfair to not be taken seriously. I'm taking this time now to learn how to pick up images and sounds properly so I can prove what I've experienced and so the birds can be properly recorded.