Hi all new on here. But need some expert opinions on a bird I saw today at dungworth in Sheffield.
I'm not a bird expert but know all the common garden and countryside birds. I also know what a kingfisher looks and fly's like because I'm an angler, so it's not one of those.
It was slightly larger than a king fisher, morlike a small starling, It had a blue back and a very light almost white breast. It was quite a quick flyer not like any of the tit family. I watched it flying for a minute or so from about 50m away then it disappeared behind some trees.
I've never seen one before and wondered if any one can shed some light on my spot? I've googled it and it looks like a mountain blue bird or very similar. I'm going to try and find a video of one in flight on YouTube.
A bit of a wild guess but are you familiar with House Martins. They sort of match your description with glossy blue wings and white underparts. Also noticeable when flying is a white rump. They are highly manoeuvrable in flight
Anything like these or not even close?
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
No definatly not an housemartin. It had wings more like a starling and it was more like the blue of a kingfisher or slightly lighter blue
Hi, could be a nuthatch?
50 m is quite a distance to judge size without a comparative subject. I just searched "juvenile kingfisher" and this image came up which I copy pasted (credit to whoever took it SB on flickr) and shows a blue back and white breast.. a possibility?
Must have been a half a mile from the nearest water so it wasn't a kingfisher.
I was up there again the other day and there was a few housemartins flying about and they flew just like the bird I saw but looked a lot darker but the sun wasn't out, so I'm thinking it was probably an housemartin with the sun brightening and lightening it's back feathers. I'll go back up when it's sunny again and try and confirm