can anyone identify this strange bird

[bluegardenflowers]

Live in yorkshire village. Walking through some woodlandy bits near home when i saw this odd bird on the path pecking at a fallen plum. I got nearer and it scuttled into some nearby bushes, but didn't seem inclined to fly, just hide, but it was a bird I've never seen before. About the size of a full grown blackbird, dark coloured (maybe brownish black) and it had very distinctive white go faster stripes down its tail and similar flashes on its wings. Should have taken a picture but it was hiding in the bushes and I was in a rush.
any idea what it could have been. crap drawing just to show where the flashes were. not sure of breast as it was on the ground.

No idea but I'm super impressed with that sketch! 😁😁

It could have been a blackbird with some albino feathers? I say that because we had one like that in the garden for a couple of years.

Haha I like the drawing too it’s ace! Was it a wagtail?

A young magpie? A blackbird with white bits in it? (It can happen)

Definitely not a wagtail, too big, and not a blackbird with albino feathers as the pattern was so defined.

Wagtails are more robin sized than blackbird sized.

The only thing i can find remotely like it is the northern mockingbird. right size, tail flashes spot on, omnivore, and rarely seen in this country
Kicking myself for not taking a pic. what wrong with me!
Ill go there tomorrow and have a look around as there are loads of plums if thats what its eating.

It can only really be a blackbird. It’s very common to see them with white feathers. There’s one with a white head near me and they do look very odd. It may have looked perfectly symmetrical at a glance, but almost certainly wouldn’t be if you were able to see it properly.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/blackbirds-with-white-feathers-found-in-survey-159349

Leucitic blackbird

Try this.

www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/identify-a-bird/

images.app.goo.gl/CRK5ocq9tRvjD6ZQA

Could it have been a Blue Jay?

Gah !spelled it wrong

images.app.goo.gl/nzhzUbZmUM34NRet8

Behaviour suggests leucitic blackbird seeing as it was ground feeding and hopped to cover. Possibly the tail end of a jay but they are very skittish and likely to take flight rather than hedge cover, plus they're bigger than blackbirds.

Could it have been a fledgling Jay if it was scuttling rather than flying ? Or a fledgling magpie ?

Definitely not a jay, or a blue jay. It wasnt like pictures of this leucitic blackbird as the markings were not blotchy, but very symmetrical. Ill check out the RNIB link

I thought at first a fledgline magpie, but the tail was a very definite fan with very clear markings. like this pic. not 100% on the wings as it was sort of fluffying them but definite white markings.

It'll be a woodpecker! They flit in the hedges and trees, I have had a couple of "what was that?" Moments til one actually then landed on a nearby tree

Chaffinch?
A bit small but has the white bit
A wheatear? Again, a bit on the small side.
A jay?

Looks more like the picture of this blackbird and the RSPB site says blackbird or young blackbird, so I think its most likely the leucitic blackbird with its own type of markings. Think this was definitly a young LB, at least that is most likely. Thanks everyone. 😚

definitly think this is the most likely. A young one not fully black yet and would explain why not particulary frightened when a nice juicy plum is nearby

No red head but the colouring is like a woodpecker.

Could it be a magpie

No, pretty sure not. the tail was a proper fan and not a long one and the white stripes really striking.

A male woodpecker has a red head. The adult female’s head is black. You can certainly see a blackbird with white patches (or any other bird) - we’ve had one in our garden.

We had a white peacock in our garden once. We assumed it had escaped from a zoo or stately home.

Easy to miss a woodpecker head when they're flying. I honestly had a real wtf moment first time I saw one flying nearby, it kept flitting into/out of hedge in front of me as I walked. It was only when it landed upright on a tree I went "oh! Now I see what you are!" all I could make out was the the black and white stripes.