Help - have I done something awful? (1 Viewer)

I need a bit of advice - I've had a blackbird nest just outside my kitchen window for a few weeks, Mr and Mrs Blackbird seem to have been quite happy to fly to and fro with food while I've been sitting underneath it on my patio watching them and the other birds in the garden - I've still stayed away from it as I haven't wanted to alarm them, or the young birds. However today I realised that there were 2 or 3 young blackbirds venturing out into the garden - I watched them for a while and they don't seem to be scared of me either - they're quite happy to sit and eat apple near me. I thought if they were out and about then the nest must be empty so it would be ok for me to have a look at it - I've never seen a nest before and I just wanted to look - so I rummaged in the clematis to find it and peeked in, I couldn't quite see properly so I pointed my camera down into it to look through the view-finder - then I saw there was something pink and feathery heaving gently in there :eek!: I got away from there immediately but I'm terrified now that I've either scared however many baby birds are in there to death or that the parents saw me prodding about around there and will now abandon the nest and the little ones......could there possibly be a second batch of baby birds in the same place? And have I pretty much killed them by being so nosey? I feel absolutely awful and pretty stupid - if they will be abandoned now is there anything I can do? :-C

First of all, don't panic! As long as you got out quick and didn't handle them you should be okay.
However, if they do get abandoned (I'd think it highly unlikely just from what you did) then you must read this thread...

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=18459&highlight=arthur

Good luck, Tom.

tom mckinney said:

First of all, don't panic! As long as you got out quick and didn't handle them you should be okay.
However, if they do get abandoned (I'd think it highly unlikely just from what you did) then you must read this thread...

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=18459&highlight=arthur

Good luck, Tom.

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Thank you so much for putting my mind at rest Tom!! And for the thread - made me laugh as well as relieving my guilt a bit - you sound like a funny bunch!!! Glad I joined already!

I shall be keeping an eye on Mr and Mrs B then to see what happens.........and if the worst happens I shall just have to dress up in feathers and take them to my bosom!! :t:

How can there be new babies in the nest though when there are juveniles only just appearing in the garden? Can they have one batch after another? Poor Mrs Blackbird if that's the case! :eek!: Or could there be another nest nearby?

Oh I did touch the nest though........might that be enough to put them off their little 'uns?

PHEW!! Both Mr and Mrs B. Bird have flown to and from the nest several times since my terribly faux pas - I hope that means all is well? I shall stay as far away from the nest now as I can.........bearing in mind that it's just above my sun-lounger thingy and right outside the kitchen window! No poking around from now on though!!

The juveniles in the meantime seem to be getting quite cheeky - they don't seem to be scared of me at all and have been quite happily scoffing apple only a couple of feet away from me - SO sweet!! Is apple good for them though? They seem to love it but I don't want to give them upset stomachs!! God I'm turning into some kind of fretful parent!!!

Katie T said:

PHEW!! Both Mr and Mrs B. Bird have flown to and from the nest several times since my terribly faux pas - I hope that means all is well? I shall stay as far away from the nest now as I can.........bearing in mind that it's just above my sun-lounger thingy and right outside the kitchen window! No poking around from now on though!!

The juveniles in the meantime seem to be getting quite cheeky - they don't seem to be scared of me at all and have been quite happily scoffing apple only a couple of feet away from me - SO sweet!! Is apple good for them though? They seem to love it but I don't want to give them upset stomachs!! God I'm turning into some kind of fretful parent!!!

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Mine like Raisins! And they are ruddy cheeky with it. The 4:30 serenade this morning was pretty but zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

pduxon said:

Mine like Raisins! And they are ruddy cheeky with it. The 4:30 serenade this morning was pretty but zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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He he - but how sweet!?! I'll try that - in the meantime one of those silly youngsters seems to have eaten a bit too much apple already - just went out into garden to rescue my camera and saw that a couple of inches back from the pile of apple pieces (ie bottom end of bird in question) were some squirly little piles of what looked like apple sauce!! Methinks young fella-me-lad ate a little too much and almost immediately reproduced it in puree form!! Hmmm, I think I will have to ration fruit - these teenagers never know when to stop!! It was very sweet to watch him scoffing but I don't think it's done him any good!! I've never watched juvenile birds before but these young blackbirds are adorable - they actually have rather stupid-looking expressions, in the nicest possible way of course!! I sat only a few feet from this young chap and he kept looking at me with his head on one side and his beak slightly open and he did look terribly daft bless him!! :bounce:

Katie,

I know you don't need reassurance now that the panic has passed.

As a curious child I used to love finding nests and would regularly take out eggs to admire them before carefully putting them back.

I'm sure the parents either spotted me or smelt me but it never put them off.

I reckon the maternal instinct of most birds is enough to get them to return and carry on incubating eggs or tending to chicks.

I'm told that a notable exception are Little Terns. Whereas Common Terns will kick up a huge fuss and defend their chicks, Little Terns will often go right ahead and abandon the blighters.

Makes you wonder how they ever survive in the wild and also why David Blunkett hasn't initiated compulsry parenting classes for them by now.

Should we tell him?

Welcome to BF by the way. :flowers:

Regards,

Padraig.

Padraig said:

Katie,

I know you don't need reassurance now that the panic has passed.

As a curious child I used to love finding nests and would regularly take out eggs to admire them before carefully putting them back.

I'm sure the parents either spotted me or smelt me but it never put them off.

I reckon the maternal instinct of most birds is enough to get them to return and carry on incubating eggs or tending to chicks.

I'm told that a notable exception are Little Terns. Whereas Common Terns will kick up a huge fuss and defend their chicks, Little Terns will often go right ahead and abandon the blighters.

Makes you wonder how they ever survive in the wild and also why David Blunkett hasn't initiated compulsry parenting classes for them by now.

Should we tell him?

Welcome to BF by the way. :flowers:

Regards,

Padraig.

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He he - thank you for that! You know I've often thought the same about pandas (i.e. how do they survive) - they have the most exclusive diet on earth, consisting entirely of a foodstuff with such little nutrional value that they have to eat shedloads of the stuff to keep themselves going, they have to be ENCOURAGED to mate and then once a female has finally, against all the odds, produced one tiny little baby panda, she seems entirely bewildered as to what to do with it and generally just either ignores it or sits on it!! :eek!: One of god's less successful designs I reckon!

Anyhoo - it's lovely to see that Mr and Mrs Bird have ignored my interference so successfully - I was obviously attaching far too much importance to myself by worrying so much, they obviously aren't too interested in me at all!!! It's lovely that they seem to trust me though (ok I like to think that they do!) - I feel like some kind of huge benevolent protector now!! (not THAT huge I hope!!) - it's very touching though when they fly to and from the nest in full view of my on my sun lounger without seeming to be too worried..........really I'm probably just a glorified scare-cat I suppose!!

Well, hurrah for the maternal instinct eh?!? :bounce:

Hi Katie, glad to hear you have stopped panicing, it takes a lot to make blackbirds abandon thier nest or young, you would have had to have been handeling the young to do any harm. Yes they are funny in thier ways, but they do put a lot of trust in us when we put out food on a daily basis. We have found now that 2 males will come to within 6inch of our hands to take the sultanas and boy do they like them!! 1 even waits on the step for me each morning ready to be fed. they also like pears-apples- grapes. not daft eh!!! but its lovely to watch them having a good feed. As regards thier young, when the fledglings are out of the nest, dad still feeds and looks after them for about a week, while the female sits her next brood in the same nest.
bert.

Katie et al

Bit late on this thread but thought I'd add my experience this year.
Even handling doesn't always necessitate abandonment as this year the trellis containing our Robins nestbox blew off the wall on the day the chicks hatched. Whilst emergency repairs were taking place in gale force winds the half day old chicks were being kept warm in a towel in front of the fire. They were successfully reacquainted with their nest and the parents happily fed them until they feldged (or at least disappeared from the next 2 weeks later so I'm hoping they fledged!! as the whole family seemed to disappear). I guess most birds put a lot of effort into the whole breeding process so won't abandon single occasions of disturbance.