Blackbird

Turdus merula

These handsome birds are real favourites, having adapted very successfully to urban living. They are so well known that it is almost superfluous to describe them, the adult male being coal-black with orange-yellow beak and eye rims, and the female chocolate brown. However, we have been asked about different colourings, and these are usually immature females (glossy chocolate brown with a quite strongly dappled breast,) young males (black with black bill,) or albino (normal appearance but with splashes or speckles of white.)

They sing frequently from vantage points, their song is varied, rich and beautiful, with an alarm call that sounds like a series of small metallic hammer blows, rising to a loud crescendo.

Blackbirds have a varied diet, eating fruits and berries when available, plus insects and worms which they listen for underground then pull to the surface. This year's dry ground has been hard on them.

They breed in Spring, March/April time, preferring dense vegetation such as hedgerow for their distinctive moss and twig nest with its polished mud lining, which is rather vulnerable to predators. Back to animals page