Blackbird – Dragon goes Wild

It’s Bath Time Again

Dragon — Sat, 02 Jun 2018 16:31:53 +0000

Another day, another bathing blackbird

Dragon — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 10:00:06 +0000

I think this is the same female Blackbird, as she sits in the bath like it’s a nest, before splashing the water everywhere

#staywild

You can tell it’s Spring when….

Dragon — Mon, 26 Mar 2018 13:00:28 +0000

….the birds are queuing for a bath – this female Blackbird was having a lovely time! To start with, she sat in the bird bath like it was a nest, before starting to splash the water over her back.

#staywild

Blurry Blackbird

Dragon — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 17:15:17 +0000

I still can’t figure out the right settings on my camera to get a faster shutter speed – the water droplets are nice and clear, but the bathing blackbird is still a blur!

#30dayswild

Soggy Blackbirds

Dragon — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 17:15:07 +0000

You’d think the weather was a little cold for outdoor bathing, but the blackbird took advantage of the bird bath being full to the brim!

#30dayswild

Hunting for worms

Dragon — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 09:00:56 +0000

Either this Blackbird was very comfortable around humans, or just particularly hungry. He was carrying what looked like a worm in his beak, but still kept on rummaging around in the grass verge.

As we walked past, he flew into a nearby hedgerow, but returned to the grass verge once we’d passed. I’m guessing he had youngsters to feed, and one solitary worm wasn’t going to be enough!

#30dayswild

Blackbirds – again!

Dragon — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 09:00:34 +0000

This particular blackbird has been a regular visitor to the garden – she’s not after the berries in the Berberis (I think all the berries have been eaten already!), but comes to gather up some food we’ve put out, then take it away for her youngsters to share. It’s certainly keeping us busy, making sure there’s enough food for the sparrows, young robin and blackbirds to share!

#30dayswild

Punkrocker Blackbird?

Dragon — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 09:00:22 +0000

Ok, so that’s a bit of a strange title for a blog post, but you’ll see what I mean when you get as far as the photos. The blackbirds have decided to take up residence in the garden – whether they’re sitting in the ornamental Quince tree, taking a bath, or eating yet more of the Berberis berries, there’s not many moments in the day when there isn’t at least one blackbird in the garden.

The bird bath is proving almost as popular as the berries right now, with one particular bird taking multiple baths in a day (that one has a slightly lighter patch of feathers on his back, so he’s easier to tell apart from the others). Today however, one of the other blackbirds decided it wanted to have a nice wash – the water had just been topped up, so there was plenty of opportunity to splash it all over.

And there’s the punk rocker! I’ve seen birds taking a bath in the garden before, but haven’t ever seen them get quite so wet! Rather than flying into the relative safety of the Quince to dry off like the other birds do, this one decided that the lure of the berries was too great, and flew into the Berberis for a quick snack while it dried off!

#30dayswild

Sunbathing Blackbird

Dragon — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 11:00:33 +0000

The blackbird is back for more! Not content with letting the sunbathing crows take all the attention, he sat on the grass and started to sunbathe. It’s a strange sight, especially when they always sit with their beak wide open.

Unusually for a sunbathing blackbird, he kept moving around – maybe he wanted to get the sunlight on both sides rather than just one.

Having finished his sunbathing, he then came down to the birdbath for a quick wash, before heading back for more berries!

#30dayswild

Blackbirds and Berries

Dragon — Sun, 10 Jul 2016 11:00:02 +0000

The blackbird that featured in my previous post is back for more! Obviously those Berberis berries are just too tasty to resist. Normally when a berry has dropped from the tree, the birds ignore it but this blackbird had other ideas!
He found a lone berry under the leaves and managed to pick it up neatly by the stalk.

Then flew over to the steps so he could put it down and eat it.

Unfortunately for him, there was only the one berry sitting under those leaves, so he then had to fly up to the branches to pick more! But I think he gets 10/10 for ingenuity at picking one that had already fallen.

#30dayswild