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Do blackbirds practice their singing?

Johnny Mindlin
14/01/2020 10:47

I walked under a bush yesterday (Urban roadside bush in leafy north London, 09:30 on a damp but not rainy day, January 13th 2020) and heard a blackbird singing in that bush, really quietly. I only heard it as I walked directly underneath, no more than a meter from the bird. It was dark brown, rather than black, with a dark beak and it was singing a complex song but so quietly, one might think it was practicing! Is that possible? Do birds practice quietly? What else could it be doing?

  • 0 14/01/2020 12:26

    Hi Johnny,   THIS may give you a few answers to your question.     Robins also sing very quietly at times - at "whisper" levels like is mentioned in the link.    

  • 0 07/02/2021 10:40
    Same here, in our back garden, in Chorlton, a Manchester suburb. For the second morning, the male of our resident pair of blackbirds was sat quietly by himself, in the middle of our old hawthorn hedge. His mate wasn't around, and for once not even tits or sparrows were nearby. He sang very quietly, as if rehearsing his full repertoire of spring songs, but just to himself. Some sections he seemed to repeat more than usual. I could see his black tail feathers quivering, in time to the pulse of his singing. His beak was barely opening as he did it. I went outside again, ten minutes later and he was still there, still singing so quietly to himself...amazing. Paul