Blackbirds

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 There was a lot of blackbird activity in the garden yesterday. There were 4 or 5 birds and there was a lot of fighting and squabbling going on - perhaps pre breeding season territorial stuff. The birds showed up well against the white of the snow so it seemed like a good day to get some photographs.  The black coloured bird is the male and the brown bird is the female.



These members of the thrush family are very common birds in Britain and their numbers are swollen in the winter with the arrival of birds from Northern and Western Europe. Blackbirds have a characteristic way of raising their long tails and then lowering them slowly. The song of the blackbird is fabulous especially at dusk and dawn. I think my next project will be to have a go at recording birdsong.

Diary Notes
Overnight snow last night with minimum temps of minus 7 C. Three camera traps overnight failed to produce anything but rabbits. It's amazing that with 4cm of snow cover and a blizzard blowing that rabbits are still out and about at 0200hrs trying to find grass to eat. A couple of herons flew over yesterday afternoon. There were woodpeckers drumming again this morning and a couple of buzzards soaring together over the house in the morning sunshine.

Comments

  1. David P18 February 2021 at 15:12

    We are blessed with having blackbirds nesting under our first floor decking every year and like you have noticed at least a couple of birds active in the garden this past couple of weeks.

    ReplyDelete

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