Just last week I was asked to identify a crow sized brown bird for a workmate who saw it in the centre of Salford on his way to work.Thanks to this website I will now be able to tell him the answer.
andrew,glad you were brave enough to post this one,i saw one of the chocolate crows in the same area last year and thankfully i hadn,t found this forum so did,nt claim a county rarity or go for counselling,but they are there and as ian says 'interesting'.
Unfortunately, you were right first time Andrew, it is indeed a pigment 'cock-up' and not anything else. There seem to be afew of these birds in that area, no doubt breeding and continuing the pigment deficiency and they have caused confusion in the past with allsorts of creamy coloured individuals and the like, some superficially atleast, possibly resembling Hooded Crow if you're speeding past! Interesting birds anyhow...
A little help is required so i know im not going mad !!!
was driving home tonight from the reebok stadium horwich, as i drove up to the motorway a crow sized bird flew right across infront of me and settled on the central reservation, i looked at it and it looked like a crow and it was huge but it was light brown in colour. Would it be something to do with the pigment in its feathers or would it be something else ?
