female blackbird help

[Pipa]

3 days ago i saw a female blackbird pottering around the garden, she has no tail feathers whatsoever, she has lost at least one of her flight feathers on her left wing and she was holding up her left leg

she cant fly,(she flutters/jumps/hops) she comes out into the lawn to forage (which she does no problem) couple times a day, i have put some blackbird mix out for her aswell which she eats and i put a dish of water out for her too, and then she goes back into hiding in one of our trees,

i dont know what happened to her, does anyone know how long it willl take her flight feather to come back, im not concerned about her tail, some birds can fly without tail feathers but she cant fly when shes missing her flight feather(s) on one wing.. its not her whole wing, possibly only one feather, 2 maximum missing

how long do they take to grow back, ive spotted a neighbours cat at the tree twice now in these 3 days so i keep watching and chasing it out everytime i see it but i cant be there 24 hours a day , the female blackbird is wise and stays quiet sitting in the tree when she has finished feeding in the garden, but i need to know how long she will be flightless on approx,

i dont know if her flight feather has been pulled out to the skin or wether a piece has broken off, (it looks completely pulled out, i cant see any ragged feathers or half feathers there but without actually grabbing her to have a look (which i will not do) i cant say for sure) - i do know if its only broken or snapped off it wont grow back till she moults it which will be ages- but if its been pulled out to the skin i read they start growing back right away? is this true does anyone know, and if it is true, how long do they take to grow

she is 100% an adult female, not a fledgling and i really dont think she moulted her feathers herself, one reason being they wouldnt usually moult ALL of their tail and wing feathers at the same time, and also because of her sore leg (which today she seemed to be walking a bit better on) she knows herself she is vulnerable thats why she stays hidden in our tree all day, only coming out to feed.. Im expecting it to be a couple of weeks for her feather to come in, but if someone knows for sure i sure would appreciate it so i know how long i'll be on cat duty for :P

[triops]

I thought my wife must have written this note! We have had almost exactly the same happening, though our bird was left with a single tail feather which later fell out. She even attempted to nest, but couldn't find mud because she was confined to just a couple of gardens and made a ragged structure mostly of grass and laid one egg which she abandoned. She can fly now, though steering is a bit inaccurate. She is now fighting off other blackbirds because the garden belongs to her! She will like yours, grow new feathers during the next few weeks and possibly even nest again. I think both birds are just lucky ones, having survived a close encounter with a cat. Good luck to both!

[Pipa]

Originally Posted by triops

I thought my wife must have written this note! We have had almost exactly the same happening, though our bird was left with a single tail feather which later fell out. She even attempted to nest, but couldn't find mud because she was confined to just a couple of gardens and made a ragged structure mostly of grass and laid one egg which she abandoned. She can fly now, though steering is a bit inaccurate. She is now fighting off other blackbirds because the garden belongs to her! She will like yours, grow new feathers during the next few weeks and possibly even nest again. I think both birds are just lucky ones, having survived a close encounter with a cat. Good luck to both!

glad im not alone, im at my window every opportunity i get watching to make sure the cats dont nab her, especially if she already escaped them once.. im not even letting my dog out into the front garden where she is , not because he will kill her but i dont want him frightening her out of her hiding place (afterall she doesnt know my dog is harmless) and into the sight of a cat

i would feel happier if i saw her in flight but she doesnt get anywhere atm, im kinda pleased she stays in our garden though, no one else around here would keep an eye on her, and our neighbours dog is a killer, kills everything it finds, so if she had to stay anywhere, this is probably her best bet

i'll be stressed/worried now until i see her safely in the air

[moog]

Wow- i've had almost the exact same thing but with a male blackbird a few weeks ago! He disappeared about two or three weeks after he appeared, but, a couple of times I thought I saw him skimming across the garden, flying about a foot or two above the grass.

In the past few days, a male blackbird has started to come to the garden, who has most his tail and wing feathers, (the original one had a LOT missing) but from midway down his back his feathers look really different to the rest (sorry, it's difficult to explain well!). I know it's totally unlikely and wishful thinking, but I like to think that it's Jack (the original one). He comes from the house across the road where Jack lived before he got injured, and is remarkably tame with me (he will happily eat out of my hand!), but not with anyone else, and is very nervous of the other blackbirds. He also has a habit of standing on his right leg, is this a normal bird thing to do? Anyway, I like to think it's the same little fella, though I'm sure the chances are slim! Someone told me that it would take 4-6 weeks to replace a feather? But I'm not 100% sure of the accuracy.

Good luck to your little one Pipa, I'm sure in some way she appreciates having someone on her side! If she's not ill, but just lost feathers and seems canny enough to look after herself to a degree, I guess she has a good chance with you on her side too! Let us know how she gets on

[Pipa]

Originally Posted by moog

Wow- i've had almost the exact same thing but with a male blackbird a few weeks ago! He disappeared about two or three weeks after he appeared, but, a couple of times I thought I saw him skimming across the garden, flying about a foot or two above the grass.

In the past few days, a male blackbird has started to come to the garden, who has most his tail and wing feathers, (the original one had a LOT missing) but from midway down his back his feathers look really different to the rest (sorry, it's difficult to explain well!). I know it's totally unlikely and wishful thinking, but I like to think that it's Jack (the original one). He comes from the house across the road where Jack lived before he got injured, and is remarkably tame with me (he will happily eat out of my hand!), but not with anyone else, and is very nervous of the other blackbirds. He also has a habit of standing on his right leg, is this a normal bird thing to do? Anyway, I like to think it's the same little fella, though I'm sure the chances are slim! Someone told me that it would take 4-6 weeks to replace a feather? But I'm not 100% sure of the accuracy.

Good luck to your little one Pipa, I'm sure in some way she appreciates having someone on her side! If she's not ill, but just lost feathers and seems canny enough to look after herself to a degree, I guess she has a good chance with you on her side too! Let us know how she gets on

it's possible it's the same male, blackbirds are territorial so if he was in your area chances are he will stay there if it was his patch unless another male chased him out, they dont usually stand on one leg that i know of, sometimes if the ground is hot they will lift up one foot and tuck it under their tummy and then swap legs after a minute or so or tuck up the same leg again (ive seen birds doing this but only in hot weather when they are usually on the patio on the concrete can only assume their little feet are getitng too hot)

some birds are moulting their feathers at the moment, we have another female come visit who only has 1 tail feather left now, but this female in our front garden is so vulnerable right now, with no flight feather she cant fly, she just hops around the grass to get food then she hops back into her bushes where she hides, her leg is fine now though, no more limping on that

it's been 5 days now since i first spotted her, i saw her this morning getting some seed i put out, i've been taking off some strawberrys from my strawberry plants too and putting them up under the tree where she hides which she has been tucking int too aswell managed to get a pic of her from my kitchen window

she looks healthy, her feathers are in good condition (the ones she has got left lol) and she forages for food no problem, not showing any signs of being weak or poorly which is great, my mom used to race pigeons when she was a girl and she said their flights usually take about 6 weeks to come in aswell, so it's going to be weeks at least she's been with us for almost a week now but it will depend how long ago she lost her featehrs before we spotted her,

piccie

[moog]

Ah bless, she looks just like ours did, like someone has chopped the back end off! What a lucky bird being treated to home grown strawberries! I never get a look in at mine, the dog always gets them first!

Good luck to her!

[Pipa]

Originally Posted by moog

Ah bless, she looks just like ours did, like someone has chopped the back end off! What a lucky bird being treated to home grown strawberries! I never get a look in at mine, the dog always gets them first!

Good luck to her!

hehe, the male just takes them right off our plants, but i thought i'd save her the trouble of having to jump into the pots and rip them down

[poppie]

I hope she's ok

We have a male blackbird who lost his tail feathers, and the other blackbirds in the garden definitely pick on him, but thankfully they seem to be growing back after about 3/4 weeks. He can fly a bit, but is rather like the roadrunner racing round the garden, rather than the normal blackbird hop.

We had another blackbird who had an injured wing, and couldn't fly, earlier in the year, and the other blackbirds killed it, which surprised me as I didn't realise how aggresive they were.

[Pipa]

Originally Posted by poppie

I hope she's ok

We have a male blackbird who lost his tail feathers, and the other blackbirds in the garden definitely pick on him, but thankfully they seem to be growing back after about 3/4 weeks. He can fly a bit, but is rather like the roadrunner racing round the garden, rather than the normal blackbird hop.

We had another blackbird who had an injured wing, and couldn't fly, earlier in the year, and the other blackbirds killed it, which surprised me as I didn't realise how aggresive they were.

oh my, were they maybe nesting at the time? once they have raised their chicks they can become less aggressive/territorial, im not looking forward to the next 4 or so weeks, i'll be devastated if the cats get her (or if other birds kill her ), i'll only relax once i see her take off and manage to get up onto roof tops

[poppie]

Hi Pipa

I hope your lady blackbird is fine - I'm sure the fact you're ensuring she gets plenty to eat and drink will make all the difference. Maybe she will be able to fly before the tail feathers are completely grown back - the young blackbirds/thrushes we have seem to be able to fly into the trees well before their tail feathers are grown in. I wonder if it might have something to do with her wing.

It's amazing how attached you can get to them.
We have 4 pairs of blackbirds in the garden (also 7 young ones), plus our male blackbird without the tail feathers (known as stumpy)
One of the females is so tame it just stands next to my husband while he is gardening and eats all the worms/insects turned up. She also flies up to me as soon as I go out, looking for bread.

I'll be keeping a look out for your posts and keeping my fingers crossed.