strange bird

[Wild_Foxx]

lately in my back garden, i've seen a very strange bird.
Its small-ish and its got a mainly black body but the underside and bottom of its wings are white. Its feet are the bit that puzzled me. The legs and skinny and small but the toes and ver long and webbed. Thats as best as i can describe it.
I tried looking it up in a bird book ut i couldn't find it. I live right infront of a canal so thats why its feet are webbed but it was so out of proportion thats why it caught my eye.
If anyone could tell me what it is then thanks.

[Noweia]

Is it a moorhen?

http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~adrian/miscpics/moor hen.jpg

[burnhal]

failing the moorhen have a look at the water rail
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name /w/waterrail/index.asp

as a last resort try the little grebe
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name /l/littlegrebe/index.asp

[Wild_Foxx]

no sorry its none of them
the head was weird as well, it was sort of like an emporer penguin (sorry i cant spell very well)

[Cetti]

Would it be possible that your bird was an escapee from a nearby collection, Wild_Foxx ,as it sounds a bit on the exotic side?

However, have a look at this :http://i31.tinypic.com/34fi7hj.jpg and see if it bears any resemblance.

Emporer penguin head - this would make me say...Guillemot (black body, white underside, but no long legs) Razorbill ( the same, except both are sea birds, not known for canals) Cormorant, Shag?? Have a good look at all the ducks for other possibles. I am really dying to know what this is!

[snagged]

Coot?

http://www.stanford.edu/~siegelr/england/coot. jpg

[Wild_Foxx]

Cetti, your not the only one
there's no zoo's or anything near where i live and i havent seen it fly

[Noweia]

What size was it? For example compared to something in your garden? How did it walk? Was it clumsy? Was it lloking for food? Was it quick and darting or slow and deliberate? Might help us all look!

Great Northern Diver:
http://www.taxidermy4cash.com/Great%20Northern %20Diver%204%20(Shaw)%5B1%5D.jpg

Black Throated Diver:
http://www.scottish-taxidermy.co.uk/images/bla ckthrtdiver.jpg

Red Necked Grebe:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name /r/redneckedgrebe/index.asp

Oystercatcher?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/nature/uk/content/i mages/gallery/1326_oystercatcher_nobcoast33.jp g

Water rail:
http://www.shropshirebirds.com/waterraillatest .jpg

Any of the sandpiper family?
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/fami lies/sandpipers.asp

Lapwing?
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name /l/lapwing/index.asp

[burnhal]

We are all making the assumption that you are in the UK? If so where? Are you near a coast? I think we are all also reading you message as long legged. However reading it again you seem to say the legs are short but the feet are long? That would support Cetti's Guillemot or razorbill. They do get blown inland during storms which we have had of late. Any more info regarding size would be appreciated. Us birdie people on here love a puzzle like this.

[Wild_Foxx]

it was a bit bigger than a duck and it was just casually pecking up any seeds that birds dropped from the bird feeder

[Kleiber]

I know this sounds far-fetched, but as you said you're near a river, it's not a dipper, is it? (Wild guess.)