Blackbird sunning itself (1 Viewer)

Maybe its one of the Blackbird's behaviors to play opposum, so if some vulture swoops down to feed on what he thinks is dead, the Blackbird could counterattack and feed on the vulture. (Just a thought; I'm not trying to be silly.)

I witnessed this very behaviour only a week ago and sat down to watch, the female blackbird flew off upon my sitting but quickly returned, observing from a very short distance 15 or 20 feet with 8x binoculars I could see she appeared panting while her gape was wide, her wings outstretched and lowered to the ground. She was doin this on a patch of bare earth below a secluded bush. I could not fathom this out but having now read the vulture theory all is now clear.