BLACKBIRDS

[Willpar]

No blackbirds here yet , have some rowan berries but have not seen any takers yet.

[Jacksparrow]

Winter looks to be finally ending and it has been my quietist for Blackbirds that I can remember. The absolute maximum I have counted in one go has been four. Most of the time there has only been two but currently only one is showing.
The entertaining blackbird squabbles over food and territory have been missing and so far very little singing. I know the SE of England the population has been affected by some king of virus but it looks as though it has spread westward.

[Willpar]

Not heard of a virus in blackbirds JS. Will have to do a bit of digging around the net.

Found it, a mosquito born virus that affects blackbirds called Usutu. Has reached Dorset now.

[Butterfly]

I only see 1 blackbird around the garden, used to have few of them. Sad to hear about that virus, they are clearly affected

[Jacksparrow]

I have had the same cock Blackbird in my garden for a couple of years. In previous years I've seen him "fishing" for tadpoles in the shallow end of the nature pond. This year the pond has a good covering of duckweed so seeing his prey is difficult if not impossible to see.. Undeterred I saw him today dragging lumps of duckweed out and flipping them over to get at whatever is hiding underneath. At this time of year there will be young tadpoles plus other water creepy-crawlies. He wasn't disappointed as I saw several beakfulls being scoffed.

[Willpar]

Birds know a thing or two.

[Nick]

I have a Blackbird with an aberration that frequents my garden daily. It doesn't seem to hinder it, it's obviously got a brood nearby as I have recently seen it gather nesting material and food from the garden. With a yellow beak I assume it's a male but the brown base colour suggests its female?

Also, are aberrations of this type common in Blackbirds?

[Willpar]

Nice one Nick.

[Jacksparrow]

I have a Blackbird with an aberration that frequents my garden daily. It doesn't seem to hinder it, it's obviously got a brood nearby as I have recently seen it gather nesting material and food from the garden. With a yellow beak I assume it's a male but the brown base colour suggests its female?

Also, are aberrations of this type common in Blackbirds?

willpar has a female blackbird with light colouring a yellow beak and yellow eye ring which appears in his videos. She is quite attractive.

[Nick]

Well I'm really confused now!

I think I've got two Blackbirds with aberrations. One is dark with black on the base of its beak and the other is much lighter with a predominantly yellow beak. Also the white patching marks are different.

What do you reckon?