Any garden bird enthusiasts help me ID a bird,please?

[crazynanna]

Well, I have been decorating my kitchen these past few days, so obviously been gazing out of the window into the garden , and I am noticing all kinds of lovely birds I have never,ever noticed before only know a pigeon. I have seen a woodpecker (looked it up), some tits on my blackberry bushes (looked it up), but there are a pair of birds I cannot find anywhere on any of the sites.

I will try and describe them.

Bigger than a robin/tit/etc...but smaller than a pigeon, maybe the same size as the woodpecker/magpie.

Brown body

Longtail (I think maybe white and a bit of black in the tail)

Bright colour bits on wings

Has a call with 2 sounds, not a song, more like a crow sound.

They are so beautiful, and seem to visit every day

Any ideas?

Oh and one more thing.

I have foxes in my garden, and yesterday evening, I heard squawking from over the fence next door, and the bloody fox balanced on the garden fence bending over. I banged the window, and it scarpered, and the noise stopped.

Do foxes kill birds?

Thankyou for your help.

Ideas but no expert
waxwing
goldfinch

You might get much better answers if you post in great outdoors.

Could it be a Jay?

We get loads on our garden, they love peanuts.

I don't think foxes get them.

Could be a jay. They are lovely- bright blue bits on the wings. Is the body more a beige than a dark brown?

And yes, foxes can kill birds, but domestic cats tend to do more damage to the wild bird population (I have 2 cats and love them, but wish they would leave the birds alone!).

try the RSPB bird identifier and let us know what it is if you find out!
:)

ooh that Jay looks like it...and yes more light brown body. But that birdie in the pic looks smaller,they are quite big in my garden. But yes..it does look really similar. I am in the middle of North London...who knew all this wildlife?

I thought about a cat killing the bird, but the fox was so close by literally leaning down...wouldn't a cat just leg it and not be so near a fox?

Jays are quite big. We get loads in the garden and it was my first thought in reading your description.

I'd have said Jay before I read your update.

And no, I watched a cat beat seven bells out of a fair sized Collie the other day. It was definitely Cat 1-Collie 0.

jay.
they are big.
and nasty - i've seen them steal baby tits from nests.

Yes, Jays are quite big.

they belong to the magpie family, so no surprise you thought of magpies when you saw them.

Do you have any reasonable sized trees, especially oaks near by?
Jays love acorns and tend to be found near woods or gardens with mature trees, rather than open fields.white arse very obvious as it flies away

If it gets colder you may get redwings and fieldfares, flocks of which come down from the north in cold spells.

similar size, not as pretty.

ooh they look too beautiful to be nasty! But the call was quite loud and aggressive...and come to think of it, when they are there, I don't think I see any other birds around. Isn't it amazing what you see when you actually look? My garden is a bit of a jungle and has been since I moved in (funds are lacking to fix it atm), so I never really venture out there, but being in the kitchen has made me see it in a whole new light...it seems to be home for many.

I think my favourite is the woodpecker, and the little tits.
It must have been a cat then with the distressed sounding attack...I didn't think foxes killed birds,anyway.

Will let you know of anymore weird and wonderful creatures...and thanks

Maybe a giraffe it's so overgrown...or Indiana Jones?

Jays are my all-time favourite birds. Must remember to put out some nuts for them in the morning!

They are credited in some circles with re-foresting the country after the ice age. Jays bury acorns every winter to retrieve later, naturally some of those acorns germinate and grow into oak trees so they are not all bad.

Yes startail, all the gardens sorrounding mine have verry mature massive trees. And yes...that is definitly it. A Jay. Wow. Jays and woodpeckers and tits. All in my inner city garden

So,the redwing...does it have red wings?

Will look out for it.
And...am going to charity shop tomorrow to get a bird book, to sit at my window.

And a fox's diet consists of small mammals, snakes, lizards, fish, berries, fruit, birds, eggs, insects and anything it can scavenge from our leftovers.

A redwing

Yes hellhas....I see the foxes pulling up worms in the early morning. They put their paw down, and yank their head up and down pulling it out of the earth.

I have spent most of my parenthood feeding my Asperger's DS's obsession for all things nature related but particularly birds (especially birds of prey), reptilian and anything related to British wildlife.

It paid off because he is now a full-time falconer but I miss our chats.

oh the redwing is beautiful.

Just reminded me of another I saw hopping about in the hospital carpark where I work the other day.

Tiny..black and white sort of speckly.

That one sounds like a wagtail.

If you're still going to be looking out of your kitchen window in two weeks' time, do the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch survey.

Jays are lovely, but quite shy. Most people see them just as they are scooting back into the nearest trees. I saw a couple in my garden yesterday.

Wow, great career choice hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman DS.