Black pheasant? (1 Viewer)

[dustspeck]

Sorry for vid quality.
Bircher Common, Herefordshire.
Is it a black pheasant?

 

[Ratal]

Its a Blackbird...

 

[Eranou]

Yes, a Blackbird.

 

[Butty]

Judging the size of a lone bird is notoriously unreliable.

 

[dustspeck]

It was much larger than a blackbird, with a much longer tail.

 

[Ratal]

It holds itself identical to a Blackbird.

It foraged for worms identical to a Blackbird.

It bobbed, ducked and moved identical to a Blackbird.

It flew away looking like a Blackbird.

It is a Blackbird.

 

[Kits]

It’s not a black pheasant.

 

[stevethehydra]

It is a Blackbird (Turdus merula), but there does seem to be some strange optical illusion going on in the video that somehow makes it "seem" like a much bigger bird. Still, on structure, posture and behaviour, as said by Ratal above, it can't be anything else, so it must be some combination of the camera and the landscape causing the odd size impression.

 

[KC Foggin]

After doing some searching I found this:

"Why are some pheasants black? Black pheasants—also known as melanistic mutant pheasants—are a dark-colored variety of the common pheasant that was initially bred in Europe for hunting. Since their introduction, feral melanistic pheasants have thrived and spread across areas where common pheasants are typically found.

 

[Ratal]

It isnt anything bar a common blackbird. The tail alone disqualified a Black Pheasant, not even taking into consideration the 100% Blackbird bob, tail flick, alarm display and headlong rush to cover with that 100% Blackbird silhouette.