Fledgeling Blackbirds?

[askar]

I'm a new member so hi to all,

Is this time of year late for blackbird chicks to fledge? Had a couple on my balcony in central London this morning along with both parents. The parents are regular visitors and are also a couple of cheeky characters. I can't leave food out for them because of the pidgeons but when they turn up the female taps on the window to let me know she need raisins, or if the balcony door's open then she comes in a couple of hops and shouts. She won't eat out of my hand but is quite happy to sit at my feet and eat.
Any experts out there? Thanks

[Picidae]

Hi asker

Welcome to WAB.

It's not unusual for Blackbirds to have second/later broods in the breeding season. The fledglings are fed anything like up to 3 weeks after leaving the nest too, so they may not be as young as you think. (The fact that both parents are feeding is a good indication btw that this is their last brood of the season)

[askar]

Thanks for that. I'm sure this is their third brood, I saw two chicks early spring, they came back with one mid summer and again another two this morning. It was just a surprise to see them so late.
You could be right about the age because they have full tails and only down on their breasts.
I'm trying to get a minature bird sanctuary going on my balcony so will be back with some very silly questions later. Thanks again.

[SheffieldLass]

Hi Asker, welcome!

I heard some rather young blackbirds in my garden today, which is later than normal here. But they had a very poor season this year due to predators, and only managed to raise to fledgling stage the brood before this one, which would normally have been their last. I'm not sure that the male has been doing much for this latest brood, he is well into his moult, but the female is still looking pretty good. But I always notice that the male here stops feeding the young of the final brood once they have just fledged and leaves the female to do the work. I'm not sure if it is to allow him to moult a bit sooner and hence be fit earlier on in the autumn to redefend the territory. He does always seem to go into moult before the female.

Also I'm still getting in some young greenfinches which are still being fed.

It makes the rush to cut hedges at the beginning August a bit early for some birds.

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by SheffieldLass

Hi Asker, welcome!
But I always notice that the male here stops feeding the young of the final brood once they have just fledged and leaves the female to do the work.

That's slightly unusual as both parents will normally feed fledglings of the last brood - however, fledglings often split to different locations/or guided there by a parent (presumably to spread out risk of predation and food shortage) it could be that your male is feeding a chick in another location. (It's not always certain it's the same parent mix from year to year either as partners change through mortality/territorial fights)

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by Picidae

That's slightly unusual as both parents will normally feed fledglings of the last brood - however, fledglings often split to different locations/or guided there by a parent (presumably to spread out risk of predation and food shortage) it could be that your male is feeding a chick in another location. (It's not always certain it's the same parent mix from year to year either as partners change through mortality/territorial fights)

Maybe the male was a maverick ... he certainly had a very distinctive personality. He did that two years running, in fact last year disappeared just before the last brood had fledged for about 5 days, then reappeared. In the meantime the female had got herself injured when sending off a squirrel that got too close to her nest and was really struggling to feed the young. I helped out by getting her a steady reply of mealworms. She also became very wary, I think because she was injured and knew the chicks were relying totally on her. When he showed up a few days later (no idea where he had been, but he was in good condition and hadn't been injured, and I suspect was scouting around for new territory) she returned to her normal tame self. It was fascinating to watch her change of behaviour when he disappeared and again when he returned... she had the injured foot so definitely the same bird. And he was the same one, his own special way of coming over for raisins, specific perch places etc. He didn't do any feeding when he returned but did do a bit of predator surveillance and issued warnings. I knew both those blackbirds well, real characters, he was 3 last year, took up the territory as a 1st year, she was at least 2, now 3.

In his first and second years when the female was in the process of making a nest he seemed to want to help, but in a very macho way, would pull at ivy stems as if trying to get suitable nesting material, but never succeeded in pulling off bits. I don't know what that was about! And he had an eye for the female in the next territory ... would let her in and pretend he hadn't seen her, then his partner would fly at him, give him a peck, whereupon he'd half-heartedly send her off. His partner, if she fancied a worm that he'd just found, would come over, peck him and grab the food. She resorted to that method when trying to feed her young singlehandedly when injured, but grabbing it from one of her earlier brood of young that was still around.

The male this year was a different one, completely different character, though with the same tendency to not feed the final brood after they had fledged (well this is macho Yorkshire ...) but the female was the same one. I'd love to know what happened to him, but I hope he took up new better territory across the road. My garden had been an excellent territory but then cat numbers increased dramatically and turned it into a very difficult one.

Melanie

[lincs lass]

Still have babies in my garden, the thrush has just started to feed itself.