The Hamlyn Guide to Birds of Britain & Europe (ISBN 0-600-55702-2)
This has line drawings of the various species.
A less comprehensive guide is A Photographic Guide to Birds of Britain & Europe (ISBN 1-85368-413-9)
There is a local translation guide written by an EF member. See his website for more details: Tony Keene
Michelin do I-Spy Guides (we don't have birds in this, but pretty sure they must do one).
Both should be available from Amazon UK.
In German, we have books in the same series as this bird book (but not this bird one).
We also have the 2nd one from these publishers .
Bookstores, online or Amazon DE, should get you these.
www.birdlife.ch Tel 44 457 70 20. 120 birds in Switzerland.
I've had mine for many years, but see that it's still available from Amazon.
I find it very useful as, for each bird, there is a small map covering all the areas a particular bird can be found.
Both are very good books.
It was large (about the size of a raven) with brown feathers. It was pecking at a seed ball I had hung from a branch. When it flew away, there was a very distinctive white patch on its lower back, and the tail feathers appeared darker, even black.
My online searches haven't turned anything up yet, so I thought I'd toss the question out to you. Any ideas on what it was?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay
The ones in Switzerland look more like the bird you describe.
But like I said, it was brown and the white patch was very distinct. Rather like this bird's (but obviously an example for the white patch only)
I honestly thought that bird this would have been easier to identify!
Magpies can appear with somewhat different color than black as their feathers arw a nit irridescent. But i suppose they would have too much white.
There is always the option it was a crow of some kind that had some coloratuon problems. There are populations where some birds have one or more dosticntly white feathers.
There is one option that is related to jays and crows and that would be the Nutcracker or Tannenhaher in german. That does have a whote patch below its tail. Im not so familiar eith the birds here but my birdguide says it could occur here and looks like this: https://goo.gl/images/BrQpT3
Can you remember any thing else about the bird? Did it look or move generally also like the ravens you know? Did you see the shape or length of the bill? Pointy, curved, etc?
And the color brown was it light or borwn towards black?.
Given that you saw it in your garden AND that you have food there there is a good chance it comes back... camera ready and ket us know!
The white bits on the wings would be seen as a spot on the back when the wings were folded.
However, they are only native to the antipodes and not related to the Alpine choughs here which have coloured bills rather than the black ones of the white-winged chough.
Sorry!
It moved something like a raven, in the sense that it was a bigger bird and not flighty like the Nuthatches and sparrows. I will have to verify tomorrow when I go back to the garden, but I think that it was perched on some very thin branches.
Coloring: it was a light, dull brown with no readily visible markings. As it was facing me while eating, I couldn't get a sense of how the white patch and tail looked while not in flight. Only when I made the mistake of trying to get the camera in place did it take off and show me those markings.
I didn't get a close look at the beak, but what I did notice was that it was a slightly pared down version of a crow, but brownish in color.
Ah yes - I will do my duty and go back and hopefully get a photo! It will be the Hunt for the BBB
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List...of_Switzerland
Its a list of all birds spotted in Switzerland.
Not had a chance to go through it yet, but it may help
This is no doubt the most impressive encounter I have ever had with a wild animal.
It went through quite some troubles just to say hi to me. It sure made my day.
It was definitely the other. Huge, yello eyes, that beak, that beautiful chest-feathers - did I mention huge?
Maybe I should have been worried, actually. But that didn't cross my mind.
http://www.vogelwarte.ch/en/birds/birds-of-switzerland/eurasian-sparrowhawk
...or an Osprey
http://www.vogelwarte.ch/en/birds/bi...zerland/osprey
.
Also, a merl apparently decided today to move in with me. Spending the afternoon trying to figure out, which tree he wants to build the nest on, looking at me as if demanding my advice. Not the slightest skittishness towards me. Cute but not as spectactular as my afternoon visitor.
Word has gone out that I indeed no longer have a cat, it seems. This will be some interesting summer.