BLACKBIRDS

[Willpar]

Very sad Squirrel. You tried your best.

[nuthatch]

Yes, you did Squirrel - nothing more anyone could have done.

OH saw something very similar with a magpie on holiday once - something you can't forget - I'm glad I didn't see and hear it.

[Jacksparrow]

Sadly, what Squirrel has reported is commonplace but we don't usually get to see the drama first hand. It is the way of nature and we are kidding ourselves if we think we can change things. If a species is in danger of extinction steps can be taken to lengthen the odds of survival but in general we have to accept that life in the wild is tough and especially so when you only just arrived in the world.

[squirrel]

As I sat on my patio having my breakfast, a Blackbird came down to feed off the ground feeder table. I hadn't fed the birds yet as there appeared to be enough food on the table for the time being. The little friendly bubbly sound coming from the Blackbird alerted me to it's presence and the fact that the food was obviously not adequate for it's taste!!! It kept looking over to me and making it's tup tupping noise and then generally hopping all over the place everywhere except the ground feeder table. I went inside and found some fruit tea cakes, sultanas and suet pellets and brought them out. After a minute or 2 it was back happily selecting it's favourite food from the table. I noticed it took something small like sultanas. The next Blackbird visitor ( a few minutes later) took some fruit tea cake. Before the last Spring watch I would probably have thought it was the same Blackbird coming back, but since that
program showed one particular garden had 73 different Blackbirds in one day, I looked more carefully at the Blackbirds and realised they were not the same. Also the choices of food were different. I think at least 5 different ones came in quite a small space of time - mainly males but at least one female.

[Jacksparrow]

I have a small core of three regular male Blackbirds who I've got to know by their beak colours and plumage defects. There are a good few juveniles who I cannot separately identify and I couple of females who turn up occasionally. There could be a lot more than I think but nowhere near 70 I'm certain.

[Placido]

I too have a lot of blackies, the majority of which are male, but even given the to-ing and fro-ing which is logical and accepted, I doubt that there are 70.
However, there was once a prog about bluetits in an ordinary suburban garden which had a healthy population attracted by the good selection of tasties. The experts put differing leg rings on them - ie. 1 black 1 blue, 1 pink 1 green and so on. Some poor soul sat all day counting the varying codes of rings and the total at the end of a typical day was astonishing. Can't remember accurately but it was over 100.

Actually, thinking about it, I wonder why there always seem to be many more m. than f. blackbirds ?
Can't be that the females are shy I don't think, 'cos my f's are all battle-hardened veterans

[Jacksparrow]

I have often pondered that Placi My best guess is that the females are more secretive being the incubators and this continues as they go about their non nesting business.

[squirrel]

I too have found that - many more males than females.

In the study on Spring Watch they ringed all the Blackbirds too. That is how they knew there were at least 73 different ones coming most days.

I have just had a lovely encounter with a female Blackbird. I had been strimming the back garden and just gone inside to unplug the strimmer and down she came to eat from the ground feeder table. She must have been waiting in the apple tree for me to finish. I had a cup of tea on the patio table so decided to go and drink it if she was happy for me to do so and let her eat rather than put the stuff away and disturb her. I edged towards the back door and she was fine with me going to the patio. I sat down with my cup of tea and watched her eat. She was making her little tup tup noise. Suddenly she flew up to the fence with a warning and I realised the horrid black and white cat had entered the garden from the back. Mrs Blackbird sat in next door's apple tree making her tup tup sound and I am sure it was to me saying "get rid of it please!" I dutifully ushered the cat out of the garden and assured her all was safe. It was as if she was asking "has it gone now? are you sure?" She then flew back to my apple tree and back to the ground feeder table to continue eating. I realised she had her beak full when she landed back in my garden and continued to stuff as much as she could into it. She must have been feeding young as she eventually took off over the fence to several gardens away. I felt like the bird guardian sitting on the patio. I felt honoured to have been trusted with that role!! Isn't it quite late for her to be still feeding young?

[Jacksparrow]

Because we've had reasonable weather from the early spring I think that some species have tried for a third brood which would explain why she is still feeding nestlings. I think my Blackbirds have realised that I will see off cats from the garden and make me aware if I am about when one approaches.
I have noticed a reduction in Blackbird numbers this week. I fear we are entering the moult period when we don't get to see them much.

[Placido]

I absolutely looooove that, Squirrel, when a blackbird asks for help to send a cat on its way. Happened to me yonks ago