Most BIZARRE Blackbird behaviour. Really puzzling. (1 Viewer)

So, have been watching my blackbird family as usual. Smudge was collecting twigs as she's begun building the next nest, but she is still feeding her fledglings too. Last summer, Heather (the female Soot mated with) was so efficient at making the next nest, she pretty much ignored her fledglings most of the time once they'd left the nest, and left Soot to look after them all whilst she began brooding again.

So, it was something a little different to see Smudge caring so diligently with Soot for their little fledged brood. She's been feeding them for almost a week with no sign of nest building until today. Now, here's the strange behaviour. I walked out into the garden and she had a big beakful of long, thin bendy twigs. One of the fledglings was standing behind her on a rockery stone, cheeping incessantly. She was positioned as if to fly into the tree with the twigs, but then she turned round and went over to the fledgling...

THEN STARTED TRYING TO FEED IT THE TWIGS!!!!!

I was like... what on EARTH is going ON here????? The poor little thing was gaping up at her and she was trying to force these big, long twigs down his throat, of course he was spitting them out (well as much as birds can 'spit') and looking really puzzled at them. I've been really shocked about this all afternoon. So, as the fledgling dropped all the twigs, Smudge just hopped off leaving him standing there looking so bemused!!

The only thing I could think of to fathom this out was that her natural instincts and bond with the chick, plus the fact it was cheeping such a lot, made her answer the call and 'forget' (??) what was in her beak. Still, it's very strange. I'd like to think the fledgling was a female and she was teaching it what to do when it has to make a nest, LOL, but I very much doubt this- she certainly seemed to be trying to feed it.

Maybe the sun had gone to her head?!

Oooer, how peculiar! Perhaps she thought the twigs were dried worms!

I have been having some very close encounters with my blackbirds too the last few days. For instance, whereas I assumed I only had one female (whose partner was shot by the moronic kid with the airgun) I now hardly ever see her, although she does still come occasionally and tink tink tinks at me for the sultanas, I think there is also another hen who is also tame. Secondly, there are two males coming, so I am now wondering if the one who was shot was not in fact my tame hen's partner at all. Thirdly, the two males are both extremely tame, although neither of them would come near me before, they are both asking for sultanas and both feeding babies, they are actually plaguing the life out of me, every time they see me in the window, they are looking hopefully, I am in and out all blooming day with sultanas and sunflower hearts! Do they call a truce with the territories too when they are feeding chicks, as they are within a few feet of one another and not fighting. One of the males is the one with the broken foot, he is getting around just fine, the claw is bent under, but he is able to walk on it pretty well, poor thing. One of the males was sunbathing yesterday, I thought he would get sunstroke, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. Then he decided to feed a baby who was hiding under the blackcurrent bush. Baby then decided he didn't want any more, so the male then got another beakful of sultanas and took off across the fence and away, so he presumably knew exactly where another baby was. So would the hens be sitting on a second clutch now and leaving the feeding to the men?

Zula - Songbird

I'd love to read posts like this, I'm always interested in bird behaviour.

Hmm I don't know, the female could indeed be sitting on another clutch- my female Heather last year did this. This year, Smudge has been feeding her chicks much more than Heather did, as well as building the nest (Heather just used to build the next nest and leave all the feeding to Soot). She's also put a lot of weight on recently, perhaps she is 'pregnant' with eggs, hehehe.

As for calling a truce during the breeding season, well from what I've observed from blackbirds, I find the fact your males are not fighting peculiar, because both Soot and Smudge chase away any blackbirds who dare to trespass their territory. In fact, Soot even chases Chaffinches, coal tit, and they both have a go at the woodpigeons from time to time. As in, really have a go. Alarm chattering, dive bombing the poor things. It's really entertaining though.

I have a couple of male trespassers, one whom I am fond of I call 'Fantail'. When he first started coming I called him no tail as he must have been either moulting or lost his tail in some sort of fight, as he literally had NO tail (and he's definitely not a fledgling). He somehow learnt that I feed raisins through the conservatory window when I'm in there, or from the back door, or from wherever I am in the garden (I carry a tub of raisins with me whenever I go into the garden coz I know it won't be long before I get begged, hehe) and he still keeps on coming despite the fact he gets attacked every time and 'seen off'. Mind you though, I think risking the attack for a beakful of free food for his chicks is worth it. He must be nesting fairly close by (though I've never seen his mate come to the garden) as we had some of his fledglings coming to our garden (and getting chased off, in fact one was sadly killed coz it flew into the back door), and this time around, I can hear nestlings chirping and the other day, they chirped just after he'd been for raisins, so I'm pretty sure they are his- they sound like they are in the next door neighbours conifers on the far side, as the side next to us are Soot and Smudge's. This interests me because Soot's territory must have changed since last year, and unless it's got bigger back to front, it's smaller- because the garden where Fantail now sings used to belong to Soot's territory. Now, whether this is because there are more male blackbirds local or what, I don't know, but I'm sure Fantail is a new bird, because I listen to their songs. One that sung last year has gone, the one that sings from across the road is still around, and Fantail definitely wasn't around last year so perhaps he took over the territory from the one who has gone, along with some of Soot's.

It will be interesting to listen to how his song progress in its richness and variety, coz at the moment it is pretty repetitive, he has about five phrases he repeats in different variations. I figure this is because he's a 'new', young male bird, and he's still learning from the older songsters around him. I find it fascinating to listen to how different male blackbirds all sing. Some do repeat the same phrases but they have different tones, as well as differing variations in the warblings at the end. It's really interesting. When trespassing males visit our garden, I always wonder which particular songster it is.

Ronald, glad you enjoyed these posts. As you can probably easily tell I really love watching my blackbirds and the blackbirds around me. I too find their behaviour very interesting.

OOOH, speaking of which, Soot has been doing something else I find strange behaviour. Their second nest failed, they had one egg that didn't hatch, then they successfully raised a third brood after Smudge made a new nest. Now she is making her fourth nest, in the same tree as the successful third nest, however Soot keeps flying into the climbing plant the second nest is in, and sort of seems to be 'inspecting' it. It's almost like he's wanting her to use that, or saying 'bird, why are you building a brand new nest when there'sa perfectly good one here you could just use right now?' He sort of clucks to her when he's in there, but she ignores him, and the he flies out. He's done it a number of times now. Interesting behaviour! It really makes me feel like the birds are thinking, I may be anthropomorphising, but it certainly seems that way.

Hi Laura,
Thought I'd add a bit as I have seen some more interesting activities amongst my crew too.
There are at least two youngsters, but they are not nest mates. My tame hen is definitely the partner of the male I was calling Jake, who has a broken foot. They were sharing the sultanas on the birdtable this afternoon. Both of the young ones are tame, and I can go within a foot of them before they back off a bit. Both have been enjoying the sunshine and sunbathing with wings spread, absolutely motionless for ages, until I sometimes fear they are not alive any more!

One of the young ones is very arrogant and self-assured so I am assuming it's a young male. This afternoon, he confronted Jake and chased him off the birdtable. Jake then went down to feed his baby who was under the blackcurrant bush, and Mr Cocky then had a go at Jake's baby, who fought back, (only handbags stuff, nothing serious!) and Mr Cocky backed off! I find it interesting to see that even at that young age they are already establishing a pecking order. They are all giving me much amusement and enjoyment at the moment, I just hope they can manage to avoid the damn ****ing cat that is constantly skulking. It has killed two birds this week (a goldfinch and a siskin) and last week a blue tit and a sparrow. Those are the ones I know of because of the feathers, there are probably more.

Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that you have a bloody cat lurking about, I hate those darn animals. It's great to hear about your fledgling being that 'self-assured' at such a young age. The only fledgling that came out of Soot and Smudge's first nest was very confident, he attacked his mother at one point, seemingly unprovoked- I called him 'feisty'. hehe.

I have yet more strange blackbird behaviour to report but am making a new thread about it!

yet more strange blackbird behaviour to report!

Okay, so today Mr Blackbird flew into the bush where the second nest is built (the one that had one failed egg) and he got in the nest and snuggled right in it, like Smudge used to do when she was incubating- and he stayed there for 10-15 minutes! He even burst into a little song at one point, in answer to another male singing nearby.

How odd!! There is no reason for him to be there related to raising his family, (unless he was hiding from his fledglings hehe) so all I can guess is he just wanted to have a little rest somewhere safe and comfortable, lol.

Yet more strange blackbird behaviour to report

I was SURE I'd posted this (I definitely wrote it) but I can't see the thread in the list so perhaps it didn't go through when I pressed submit. If it did and I've just missed it, whoops.

Anyways- so today, Soot (male blackbird) got into the second nest (Smudge- female- is now sitting on the fourth brood of eggs in the fourth nest) that had one egg that didn't hatch, and he sat in it for a good 10-15 minutes. He even burst into song at one point, in answer to another male blackbird close by. I have no idea why he did this, perhaps he wanted to have a little rest in a safe, sheltered place. He really snuggled down in the nest and looked so relaxed (coz I can see into this climbing plant from the patio and he's not at all bothered by me watching him he's so used to me).

Hi, Laura -- that's because I've merged the threads together. Rather than starting a new one when you're basically updating us on the same subject, it's better to just add onto the original thread. :t:

My latest update.

I have now realised I have three babies. One of which is incredibly tame, and is on the verge of taking sultanas from my hand. He is literally waiting around for me all day, and every time I set foot outside he is flying to me. Yesterday, I thought he was going to land on me, but at the last minute, he veered off to the fence. He also spends time laying down resting in the pile of sunflower hearts on the birdtable! Baby No 2 is not quite as tame, although will also come within about 6 feet of me, but no closer. And this morning, as I opened the back door, there was a third one on the lawn, who flew off almost immediately.

I put some hearts and sultanas on the birdtable for my baby and was busy filling the sunflower heart feeder on the clothes line when I heard a scream, and baby no. 2 had attacked baby no. 1 and made him get off the birdtable. There were lots and lots of feathers, and my baby no. 1 went up on the roof of the bungalow and then flew off. Now if I hadn't been there and witnessed it, I would have feared the worst then, and assumed the cat or hawk had been at work. What a bully, there was plenty for all. ||

I am therefore assuming from the above that all three babies come from different parents, so I have three pairs nesting in the area (none in my garden, I don't have the right kind of bushes I fear)

Regarding the cat, I have cut lots of holly and stuck it into the trellis along the top of the fence, hopefully to deter the birds perching (not really working, they are just perching a bit higher) but it is a bit of camouflage for them, and hope the cat may prickle itself and stop leaping up and getting them. At the risk of upsetting my neighbour I may have to go round and ask her if she would mind me cutting down the grass which is along my fence in her garden. This is a long story, but suffice to say her lazy son doesn't do the garden for her, and she is about 70, the grass is now nearly 6 feet high and you can see where the cat has made paths in it, just lays in wait and leaps out. They built up the level last year to put decking down, which is half done, but it means instead of a 6 feet high fence I had, its now only about 3 foot 6, easy for the cat (not their cat I might add - can never find out who it belongs to) I hate them all with a vengeance. There's three that think they can do what they like in my garden. Can you imagine the outrage if I allowed my dog into everyone's garden round here and let it poo, and kill? Why should cats be any different. Something needs to be done about it. End of rant. I don't want to say any more on the matter, I am aware there's lots of threads on here about it already. It just makes my blood boil.

More about my blackbirds!

I have three adult pairs, and today, a new male appeared in the front garden. He has a lot of white feathers around his head and a couple in the wings. Jake the broken foot is still fine, I had wondered, as he hadn't been seen for a few days, but came this morning.

One of the youngsters is a cheeky devil, I swear he is talking to me. He saw me in the living room vacuuming about an hour ago. He came and sat on the bench which is along my window, looking at me, then he flew to the birdtable and looked at me from there, then he came back - he was saying "want, gimme!" The spiteful youngster has a darkening of the wings now where new feathers must be coming through and as anticipated would be a young male. Still not sure about the others though, but I am finding it hard to cope with the demands for sultanas - everywhere I look is a blackbird asking for food! Even the kitchen window earlier, a hen saw me and sat on an old table I have outside pleading, I threw her some out of the window as she wouldn't land on the window sill for them after a few aborted attempts (it slopes) Tescos had run out of cheapy sultanas yesterday, and I am rapidly running out. I could easily go through a packet a day at the moment if I didn't ignore them or go out for a few hours!

Katy Penland said:

Hi, Laura -- that's because I've merged the threads together. Rather than starting a new one when you're basically updating us on the same subject, it's better to just add onto the original thread. :t:

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Right ok that's fair enough. I can see how it'd make things easier, although there was a reason I started a new thread- I thought people might just think I was updating about the first post- about the female blackbird, when I wanted to share some new information about what the male had been up to! However if that's not the way here I'll keep posts of a similar vein in the same thread, no problems. Glad to discover the 'mystery' of what happened to my post, LOL! I *knew* I'd written it, I was just assuming it hadn't gone through for some reason. Cheers for clarifying things.

Lovely to hear about your tame blackbird fledgling Songbird! I am with you entirely regarding cats. One of our neighbours has two cats, and the other evening all the blackbirds started fussing and then there was this awful shrieking sound, I could recognise it was a fledgling and I could tell it was in trouble. I couldn't get to it to help it though, and it transpired the neighbours cat had got it because I heard the woman shout her husband and say "Amy (the cat) has got a bird". She may be responsible for why there was only one fledgling grew up from the first brood, as there had been at least 3 in the nest.

I had a fledgling this summer that wasn't one of 'my' blackbirds taking raisins from my hand- but he always had to grab them quickly as he was always being chased off by Soot or Smudge.

Soot bought two of our fledglings to the back doorstep today to feed them. They'd gone further afield so it's nice to see them back again.

songbird said:

I could easily go through a packet a day at the moment if I didn't ignore them or go out for a few hours!

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hehe I know the score! It seems liek not just my blackbirds, but also those nearby are now cottoning on to the free food and they all keep coming into the garden. A couple of weeks ago I'd decided to put the raisin tub out under cover of some bushes so my blackbirds could help themselves, but then we had other blackbirds helping themselves, as well as a lovely thrush that was soon chased away by Smudge. They went down so fast I soon stopped that idea.

Here is a picture of Smudge taken this Summer: Lovely Smudge