Garden Wildlife UK

I posted earlier that I had good numbers of fledgling Blackies and it remains the case. They have now lost that bewildered "what am I doing here" look and put themselves around with good confidence. One of them has got quite used to my presence in the garden and declines the chance to fly off when I appear. Like some of the adult birds it has realised I bring goodies from time to time.

Strange that, Jacksparrow - I too have found that this year more blackies hang around when I emerge with goodies (or possibly not). Previously they have dived for cover and emerged when the coast is clear.
Don't know why this should be, but adults and juvies alike, this year they are much less inclined to scarper temporarily.
Theory is that maybe in previous years there was one extra-nervous/alert male who was handy at emitting the alarm yell upon the slightest provocation and he has now gone to mealies new, leaving the rest in peace (geddit ?!?!?!?) .

Blackbird this morning:

And some yesterday morning:





+ starling

They are still on the fence squeaking to be fed

Nice pics nuthatch.

It looks like Dad has got plenty of work to do there even though the youngsters look well developed. Good nuthatch

Baby blackbirds always look a bit grumpy to me

JooMoo wrote:Baby blackbirds always look a bit grumpy to me

Anyone who has to be out and about in that awful mottled brown outfit is entitled to look grumpy.

Most of my male Blackbirds are starting to look very tatty. I think the breeding season has taken it's toll. Having said that I think some still have nestlings to feed as they can be seen flying off with beaks full of grub on a regular basis.

At the weekend I went to my brother's BBQ. My sons and nephews found a small fledgling bird under the conifer hedge. It had fallen from a nest. At first they thought it was dead as it lay still under the hedge. It only had the first few feathers and a little tuft of fluff on the top of it's head. It was probably about a week old. On closer examination one of my sons found the little bird was still breathing. He picked it up. It was very cold as it hadn't many feathers. I think it was a baby Blackbird. It was barely breathing. We took it to the patio in the sunshine and wrapped it in some kitchen roll. It started to warm up and it's breathing became stronger.

As the local animal sanctuary has temporarily closed down for renovations my sons started to research on the internet how to raise it if necessary. They found out it needed to be fed every 30 - 45 mins as we guessed it was about a week old. We also tried to find it's nest. My brother did find it, but sadly there was one dead youngster in there with a puncture hole in it with wasps in. He thinks he saw the Magpies on the top of the hedge earlier and thinks maybe they attacked the nest and this little one was dropped or fell from the nest in the struggle. It appeared the parents had abandoned the nest thinking all the babies were dead or taken. If we were to put it back it was open for the Magpies to kill again.

At the time we knew it needed food soon as it hadn't had anything for hours. The best we could do at the time was some emulsified sausage meat in hot water (cooled) and some tomato - reasonably close to kitten food and tomato which people had used on the internet to feed fledgling birds. We used some tweezers to get it into it's beak. It didn't want to open it's beak. It was very sleepy - maybe in a comer! Sadly it didn't make it, and died after a while. We are not sure if it's neck was straight - maybe it was injured falling from the nest - it must had hit every branch on the way down. It was very sad, but we did try our best.

Magpies can be very cruel to some small fledgling birds. One of my sons was on his way home from work and saw a sad sight. He says 3 Magpies were attacking a small Blackbird - probably a fledgling, with another blackbird by the side screeching and leaping about in anguish. He said there was blood everywhere from the poor little fledgling bird and he wanted to shield the poor blackbird from the sight and say, "Come with me, don't look! It's better to just come with me now - there is nothing you can do now - it's too late!" He said it made him so sad.