Feisty blackbird

[2dogs2000]

Today I put some suet pellets mixed with mealworms onto the lawn. Within minutes a blackbird appeared followed by a starling. The blackbird chased the starling off and returned to find sparrows on the lawn. It was funny to watch the blackbird trying to chase all the sparrows as he was running round in circles after them. The starling reappeared a few times and on each occasion the blackbird saw it off and they were even fighting in the air. Then a pigeon arrived but the blackbird let him be.
The blackbirds behaviour made me smile.

[Nick Smith]

We have up to 10 blackbirds in our garden most days now, along with a mixture of the usual garden varieties. We have various feeding stations on the ground. One female blackbird has decided one of these stations is her's and will chase off anything that comes close, unfortunately for her the number of birds increases so much that she has to give up. I keep thinking we will look out there and see her lying on her back with her legs stuck in the air

Today we were particularly fortunate to see a fieldfare in the garden surrounded by about 50-60 chiffinch, blackbird, blue tit, starling, dove, pigeon... etc. He looked around at all the activity, hopped about on the lawn for a minute or two to see what all the fuss was about before flying up into one of the trees where we usually see them. This is the first time we have seen a fieldfare in our garden.

[aeshna5]

I had fun watching a male Blackbird today flying up at a large fat ball suspended c1.5 metres from the ground + managing each time to dislodge some + eat his fill.

[Guinnessman1974]

We have a male Blackbird in our garden who is very aggressive, chasing off another female blackbird near the pile of apples I've put out - also, being dominating on the bird table.

I notice that a female blackbird chases off another female, so I wonder if the first mentioned female blackbird has paired with the male one and they are protecting their territory.

There are also flocks of Blackbirds about, I guess these are the migratory ones from Scandinavia?

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Guinnessman1974

There are also flocks of Blackbirds about, I guess these are the migratory ones from Scandinavia?

If a flock of blackbirds is seen together at this time of year their origin is quite hard to say. However most British breeders are quite sedentary, but 1st winter birds can move around quite a bit and often associate with flocks of migrants, although they very rarely leave Britain. I suspect that the birds you have seen will be largely made up of migrants. Blackbirds often migrant from Scandinavia (in particular Norway and Denmark) but large numbers also arrive from Germany, Belgium and Holland. I find October and November produces big flocks of migrants on the coast then they tend to spread out and mix with the British population through the winter. Around mid-late February as the British birds start to get ready for the breeding season, these continental birds start to flock up and leave, which is probably what you have seen.

Interestingly blackbirds are not renowned for moving due to harsh weather on the continent like some of the other thrushes, but after some strong easterlies there seems to have been a late small influx here (on Friday) of what are definitely continental type birds. They had no fat (indicating they had just arrived) and had very long wings (c.140cm) (larger than the British birds) coupled with a number of woodcocks on the coast too. It is hard to say if these have arrived from Europe across the North sea or are just arriving at the coast the head back to Europe.

[actionfinch]

Observing a male blackbird ,seemed fine sharing the food with other species..Intresting information DH... might explain the large number i had in the garden the other day .