Dead Baby blackbird Nest

Pipa · #1 (**permalink**) 09-05-2011, 12:37 PM

Hi everyone, for the past couple of weeks we had a pair of blackbirds nesting in a conifer tree in our garden, it was right up against the corner of our house so we could see them from our living room window (well we could see the parents flying in and out, the nest was inside the conifer tree)

anyway we watched mom build her nest, then after awhile we knew her eggs had hatched as both her and the male started taking food in...

yesturday we noticed that we had not seen her or the male going to the nest, so i checked the nest today for the first time and as we thought, all 4 babys are dead,

the nest is intact, the babys were all curled up together in a neat pack, they had no damage on them so i know they hadn't been attacked by a cat or other birds like magpies or anything, they were well fed as they were pretty plump, they were still very young though, maybe 1.5 week old, does anyone know why they might have died,

the only thing i can think too is, we had thunder yesturday is it possible the thunder scared mom off the nest and by the time she returned the babys had died from the cold ? i was gutted when i saw they were all dead, they were both good parents, they were feeding the babys well, so i have no clue what happened or why she would abandon them, unless she was killed herself somewhere ;( but the male didnt return either

Kayleigh · #2 (**permalink**) 09-05-2011, 08:45 PM

Welcome to WAB,.

We have had rain so they could have got wet and died..
how sad..

rossy · #3 (**permalink**) 09-05-2011, 09:54 PM

possible that she had been predated, and i know how frustrating it can be, had 3 failed nests last year, and 1 this year, blackbirds that is, rossy.

Pipa · #4 (**permalink**) 10-05-2011, 10:23 PM

Thanks Kayleigh - the most likely thing i can think of was the thunder and the rain we had

it's so said isn't it Rossy, i was heartbroken, peeking into the nest and seeing them all tucked up together i coulda cried for them, i buried them in the garden under a tree,

we were so lucky last year, and a pair of blackbirds raised 4 babys sucesfully, and we got soo honoured to get close to them, the female got used to our presence in the garden and we got some lovely photos of the dad feeding the babys and things and to watch them grow and get their adult feathers in, was amazing, i was really looking forward to seeing this nest when they hopped out, but sadly it's not to be this time =/