Hi All
On my home last night after a late night poker session, I was distracted while on the M60 motorway by an enormous flock of birds flying overhead. They seemed to be circling and flying around in the same area. There were lots of them - definitely in the hundreds. They were also flying fairly low.
There were that many of them that the in the light from the road lights shining on their undersides they caused a really odd effect that sort of lit up the sky.
The problem I have is trying to work out what they were. Obviously i was driving, so couldn't get a sustained proper look at them, but the only thing i can liken them to is owls. They had pale undersides, possibly white / cream / grey with what looked like darker specks in the feathers. They had sort of roundish, plump looking bodies and average size wings (not gull shaped, definitely more owl shaped). As far as i am aware, owls are solitary, territorial birds so it is highly unlikely to have been owls - but i honestly can't think of anything else that would be flying at 3am in the pitch black at a fairly low altitude around the Manchester area.
If anyone has any suggestions, i'd be very grateful!
Cheers
Dear All
Many thanks for all the responses... i do (i think) have an ID on the birds I saw (although, as susan says above, I guess we will never know for sure).
Firstly, a response to a couple of suggestions/points raised above...
Sparrow: Definitely not crows! The one thing i was absolutely sure about was that the underside of the birds was pale in colour.
Buzzard: An interesting post, and informative too. Thanks.
Paul Eele: Congrats. First person to get it right (or at least what I think is the right answer!).
Susan: Lol!
Highland McHale: "what we have makes little sense" - that's somewhat harsh. I gave a description of what i saw and commented that although they looked like owls, I realise that they can't have been. I'd hardly go so far as to say that my post made little sense!
Cartimanuda: Good call (i think!)
As i mentioned above, I will never know for sure. However, I spoke to a couple of friends about this, one of whom is a keen bird watcher.
He told me that in Ashton Under Lyne there is a huge, huge flock of lapwing that can often be seen flying around near the cinema complex or resting on the grass verges and roundabouts near the same place. Sometimes he sees them there everyday. Coincidentally this is pretty much exactly the place where I saw my birds.
I then had a look on the internet and youtube to see lapwings and it is incredibly close to what I saw that evening.
They have pale underbellies, plump bodies, shorter rounded wings and look a lot like the birds I saw. As soon as i saw the vidoes I recognised them.
So, I'm going with the lapwings theory!
Thanks to everyone!
Hello Magic_hat. Sorry if you felt I was being harsh, My comments where directed at Kezmo being harsh on their own comment! Requesting ID help Is, I think, admitting that things don't make sense anyway!
"but i honestly can't think of anything else that would be flying at 3am in the pitch black at a fairly low altitude around the Manchester area." This would perhaps have lead me to thinking things didn't add up to both you and me.
You put the "my post" part in yourself, they are not my words!!!!!!
John :-)
For viewing or photography right place right time is everything. I'd rather be in the right place with poor kit than have the best kit and be in the wrong place.
Sorted! :-)
Make the boy interested in natural history if you can; it is better than games [Robert Falcon Scott]