The past 2/3 weeks I have had at least a dozen blackbirds in my small garden at any one time, mostly males. Could these be migrating birds? I have read that these are generally rather shy but the ones in my garden are quite aggressive. This morning I noticed that at least 2 of them have learnt how to hang on to the sunflower seed feeder to obtain a meal. So much for them being ground feeders as is generally stated in most books!
Hi Jaybee
Yes, we've noticed a lot of blackbirds around Banbury this winter too. I've seen up to 12 in the rowan tree outside my house on some mornings (at least until all the berries were gone) and a colleague said he'd counted THIRTY-TWO in his garden just this morning.
A lot of these will be migrants from eastern Europe and yes, for some reason they do often seem to form single-sex groups. Strange!
Hi, I have heard tell of several large (by blackbird standards) groups in recent weeks in many areas of the country and in nearly all cases the males heavily outnumber the females, which is curious.
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
Yes! Saw 15 male 'blacks' in my aunty's garden in Kent NY's day! A few females about too but not 'with' them! (+ 2 pheasants!)
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
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Judging by the way a male blackbird treated a female in my garden today, I'm not surprised they hang about in single sex groups. Any sensible female will stay well clear!
I was watching from an upstairs window. The male chased the female all round the garden, on to the top of the hedge, along the top of the hedge, down in to next door's garden, on to their greenhouse roof, back to my garden, ending up on my shed roof. Bearing in mind we have several inches of snow, this was quite an amusing exhibition. Anyway, the male then took a lump out of female's feathers. There were little "bum-fluff" feathers all over the snow on the shed roof. The poor little girl flew off, and the victor got the spoils.
Cheers, Linda.
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Thanks for all your replies. Sparrow your description was very comical but seems quite typical from what I've seen in my garden.
There is a large blackbird population here anyway, but I have noticed a lot more visiting the garden and they do seem to be more males than females - they are different ages too.
Hi MarJus, that is a great photo!
Hi Sparrow, I am still laughing at your description - and I read it yesterday! Superb narrative.