Blackbirds have disappeared

Hi Lucy..I have noticed my blackbirds visits becoming less frequent now...perhaps they have raised all their broods and they are now going through the process of annual moult where they tend to hide away until they have their lovely new feathers....Blackbirds also tend to move to where there is an abundance of fruit or berries at this time of year....I noticed my female BB in the garden at 5.30 this morning so unless you have eyes on the garden every minute of the day it's very possible they are still around ....

Perhaps others more knowledgeable than me can offer some more suggestions

Our Blackbirds come and go with variable frequency.

Many Blackbirds are migrant. I learnt this from an Autumn or Spring watch episode.

We've certain seen juvenile Blackbirds around my bird feeder.

But as Linda says, they could be lying low during their moult or finding food elsewhere.

Alternatively, some 'might' be attempting another brood, yet others might have migrated back to their country of origin.

We will occasionally not see Blackbirds for many weeks or months, then (like London buses) five turn up at once.

I made an effort this morning to keep track of Blackbird sightings. Six birds in all. The first was on my birdfeeder at 6:30am. The remaining 5 we encountered on our morning walk. Couldn't help but bump into them as they were on footpaths in front of us.

You may or may not see the pair that you have been visiting your garden this year. In fact, having breed, they may well be off to pastures new. Blackbirds will return, judging by the number we met this morning - and I only noticed as I was paying attention. Normally we tend to be dismissive about seeing Blackbirds as they are so common.

I kept creeping up slowly on this one, and it kept running off.

It ran between a gap in the hedgerow, before flying off in disgust as I followed it.

Further on down the lane, we came across two Blackbirds feeding. We were quite close to our house, at this point. A male and, I believe, a fledgling.

Any of the birds we saw this morning could visit our garden as it is well within their foraging range.

The female has been back in the garden feeding today still no sign of the male - do they stay as a pair even after they have finished breeding?

After the raising of the kids at a certain point in the year the blackbirds moult . It may be the females do it whilst brooding and hatching the eggs - some species do that. At the moult the blackbirds ''hide'' they look all raggy  and untidy as they lose their feathers.  But, they  will all be back in force come the autumn. 

Hope  this helps

We've had a friendly blackbird for the last 2-3 years. Have learned a bit more about their behaviours over that time as he's very regular coming when he needs/wants food.

After their last brood of chicks have stopped needing feeding, the make will usually be ready to start moulting. You may notice the plumage having much lighter grey feathers missed in.

As this process continues, they will be more vulnerable as they are far less able to fly quickly and less able to manoeuvre.

With ours, he's usually very comfortable for us to be very close (he walks into the garage if I'm working in their if I don't spot him outside). But once he's moulting he's far more wary. He waits in his favourite bush until I've put the food down and stepped back a bit.

As this continues you may spot them just sitting still in a hedge looking a bit forlorn and then they will often disappear altogether. Ours did again last August, but did return eventually and had not forgotten his old rituals.

Sorry for the autocorrect errors in my earlier post. Hope you got the gist.

We had the four young from the last brood arrive in the garden a couple of weeks ago. Prior to that the male and female were collecting and flying down the road to feed them.

Two of the juveniles have moved on (we cut back the feeding to try and encourage them to). Two remain. They perch on the chairs outside our lounge French doors so we can see and will perch on the threshold if the doors open. Unfortunately one of them now looks unwell, but nothing we can do sadly.

We also have a very tame robin chick visiting. It is also very persistent about making itself visible outside. When younger it would fly and hover like a hummingbird outside the kitchen window when I went to make breakfast. Last week it flew in through the open lounge doors, did a circuit of the lounge and landed on the TV. Was not at all panicked. After another quick flight over our heads it went out and waited for food.

Previously when I've been trying to put a few mealworms out, it was so impatient with me cutting them smaller that it landed on my wrist as I did it. We've named it Chiquita which I only later worked out translated as "little gift". Spectacularly beautiful close-up.

Sorry for tardiness in replying, partly caused by my thinking that someone else had beaten me to it.

A quick search on t'internet, reveals results that suggest that Blackbirds do mate for life. Well, a lot of them do.

However, this needs to be put into context. Again from the infamous internet, Blackbirds live 3 to 4 years on average. Hardly a long relationship.