Blackbirds Making Nest In My Garden

ankaragucu

Hi, I have a pair of blackbirds in my garden making a nest in the ivy.Just looking for some info on how long the process takes from now til fledging and is there anything we can do to help them along or should we not intrude on them at all?Havent really got a clue about this and have already been surprised and amused by their fearless nature.
Thanks.

cd07

Just leave them to their own way. Any human intrusion could cause them to abandon the nest. Blackbirds are very self sufficient and especially this tme of year need no help bar u have buckets of worms handy! Just observe from a distance and enjoy!

ankaragucu

cd07 wrote: »

Just leave them to their own way. Any human intrusion could cause them to abandon the nest. Blackbirds are very self sufficient and especially this tme of year need no help bar u have buckets of worms handy! Just observe from a distance and enjoy!

Perfect.Good to know.Thanks.

Half-cocked

cd07 wrote: »

Just leave them to their own way. Any human intrusion could cause them to abandon the nest. Blackbirds are very self sufficient and especially this tme of year need no help bar u have buckets of worms handy! Just observe from a distance and enjoy!

When they fledge, the young will remain hidden away for a while. Watch out for the parents carrying beakfuls of food into undergrowth. Eventually the young will move out into the open. We have at least one fledgling hiding in the hedge being fed by the male, the female seems to be incubating a second brood in a new nest. The only interference I carry out during nesting season is using a super soaker on any cats that wander into the garden!

vandriver

Blackbirds love apples.I leave a few apple halves out for my resident family(2+2)

kumate_champ07

the parents spend most of the day gathering worms for them, they'll usually ignore any food you might put out for them. 1 summer I was feeding them fat balls , Id break off some and leave it on the ground and one would come over then fly to the nest with it. my parents have a nice big back garden and during the summer a couple of years ago I spent some time around them.

here is 1(of2) a few days before it went for its first proper flight

they just jump around from branch to branch and call out for food every so often, when they leave they follow the parents and still have to be fed beak to beak, it takes a couple of weeks before they actually pick up their food themselves

one other summer a mating pair would fly up to me in the evening and do a dance a few feet away, it was very strange

Stigura

My bird's gone, today. Guess she went for breakfast and became the spar's breakfast Five cold eggs out there now.

That's nature.

ankaragucu

Havent seen the female in about ten days.The male is still flying in and out though so guess this means she's on the eggs and he's doing the feeding does it?Isnt it unusual for the female not to come out at all?

Stigura

Female blackbirds tend to stick to their nests like the proverbial to a blanket. She will be sneaking off for a crafty feed, at intervals.

It's astounding, given the failure rates, how we even still have blackbirds, frankly. It really is as if they've been put there to feed every other bloody thing around. From mice to spar's and crows.

yknaa

Few in our garden too which is great. Apples are a big hit. Tip: We took away our garden bench from near the ivy last year as a local cat was using it to launch himself into the ivy to try and catch the birds.

Sundew

vandriver wrote: »

Blackbirds love apples.I leave a few apple halves out for my resident family(2+2)

Another tip when feeding apples to blackbirds, is not to cut them in half as the crows/ magpies can fly off with them. I leave them whole and just skim off the top so the flesh is exposed.The apples seem to last longer doing this :-)

savagethegoat

One of the few birds whose song I can id is the Blackbird and my garden is alive with their song all day. Fantastic.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

ankaragucu wrote: »

Havent seen the female in about ten days.The male is still flying in and out though so guess this means she's on the eggs and he's doing the feeding does it?Isnt it unusual for the female not to come out at all?

Yes, the female does the incubation with the male bringing her food.

Stigura wrote: »

Female blackbirds tend to stick to their nests like the proverbial to a blanket. She will be sneaking off for a crafty feed, at intervals.

It's astounding, given the failure rates, how we even still have blackbirds, frankly. It really is as if they've been put there to feed every other bloody thing around. From mice to spar's and crows.

Losses are built in to the grand scheme of Nature. If all eggs survived to adulthood food supplies would be exhausted and we'd be over run with birds.

Stigura

Juliana Mysterious Fountain wrote: »

Yes, the female does the incubation with the male bringing her food.

Are ye saying she doesn't come off to feed herself?

Juliana Mysterious Fountain wrote: »

Losses are built in to the grand scheme of Nature.

Yeah. I actually know that too. I even have a copy of Abbey

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Stigura wrote: »

Are ye saying she doesn't come off to feed herself?



Yeah. I actually know that too. I even have a copy of Abbey

Yes, she rarely, if ever comes off.

I have no idea what the "abbey" reference is or what the wink is about.

Stigura

Oh. Okay then. " She rarely, if ever comes off "?

Only, I had man ~ BSc Biological Sciences, Oxford University and PhD Avian mating systems, Lancaster University, Senior Research Ecologist - Demographic Monitory Projects, BTO ~ personally telling me she'll come off to grab a snack at about thirty minute intervals.


But, hey. It's just a chat, " Recreation and Hobby ", board. A grain of sand amidst the internet. Let's not bog it down with scientists

How about this lad. Looks about fourteen. Enthusiastic. He writes of watching the female off, feeding herself. http://wildeaboutbirds.blogspot.ie/2014/05/a-blackbird-nest-record.html

I've observed the same myself, of course. Yet:

Juliana Mysterious Fountain wrote: »

Yes, she rarely, if ever comes off.

? What ever.


Abbey? Good book. Recommended to me by one of my mentors. Guy knew his stuff. A Gentleman

ankaragucu

Unfortunately I arrived home yesterday to see a magpie taking one of the chicks.He had it in his mouth and didnt seem at all concerned by the male blackbird's verbal protestations.Sad but thats nature I guess.Now the magpie knows the nest is there I suppose he'll return until they're all gone......

ankaragucu

Jeepers I just looked out the back garden and saw something on the grass.On closer inspection it was a dead bird with its head torn off and missing.A few feathers strewn about too.Is this somehow connected to the magpie from yesterday?It didnt look like either of the nesting blackbirds, it was slightly smaller I think.Cant see the severed head anywhere about.Is this normal?
What started out as a cute pair of birds nesting in my ivy has turned ugly.I'll be watching closely from the kitchen hoping to see both blackbirds are okay.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

ankaragucu wrote: »

Jeepers I just looked out the back garden and saw something on the grass.On closer inspection it was a dead bird with its head torn off and missing.A few feathers strewn about too.Is this somehow connected to the magpie from yesterday?It didnt look like either of the nesting blackbirds, it was slightly smaller I think.Cant see the severed head anywhere about.Is this normal?
What started out as a cute pair of birds nesting in my ivy has turned ugly.I'll be watching closely from the kitchen hoping to see both blackbirds are okay.

Classic Sparrowhawk signs there.

ankaragucu

The male blackbird has appeared.He's sitting on the neighbours roof looking down on my garden.A magpie about too intermitently but not troubling the nest, for now.
So do you think a sparrow hawk just dropped that decapitated dead bird on my garden by chance?My kids have been following things up to now with great interest but I disposed of the headless bird without saying anything to them about it.