Blackbird tactics

[Paddy's mum]

We have a young crab apple growing near our back windows. It has been laden with fruit. As the winter has progressed, the blackbirds have been coming to it more and more often and now only a few apples remain.

Most of the blackbirds use one of two tactics. First, they sit on a twig beneath or beside and apple and peck bits off it. Secondly, they will grab an apple and pull hard then fly off with the whole apple to eat it in peace somewhere else.

However, we have one female blackbird who seems to have perfected her own method. She flies to an apple, and while still on the wing, grabs it hard. She then lets her body hang vertically, flapping madly all the while, humming bird style, until her own weight pulls the apple free.

It's hilarious to watch as she looks like one of those circus ladies in days of yore who would hang via a mouthpiece from her partner on the trapeze above.

We've also found a method of feeding blackbirds and thrushes with some of those prunes we got cheap from the salmonella shelf. I threaded them onto a kebab skewer, stuck a cork on the sharp end and then tied it onto a young tree with salvaged bootlaces. Works a treat and keeps food away from vermin.

[Karen_D]

Last year we watched the blackbirds dive-bombing the rowan in our garden to get the berries on the ends of branches - for some reason they'll strip our tree quite early even though there are others about that will still be laden with fruit. Perhaps it is because they know I'm daft enough to put food out when they've eaten all the berries.

[Cornelian]

Hi - sorry to resurrect this thread, but it has made me curious ... in my Australian gardens the blackbirds have only ever eaten worms and insects - I've never seen them eating fruit (they are the same birds, brought out by English settlers in the 18th and 19th centuries). I'm not sure if I have a peculiarly carnivorous bunch, or if Australian blackbirds simply prefer to eat meat rather than their fruit.

[ina]

Maybe it's because traditionally*, part of the year there were no worms etc available to them? Ours certainly eat grain and seeds, too; and pull out worms and other creepy-crawlies in summer.

We have a resident pair of blackbirds in the lambing shed; they are after feed spillage...

* I say traditionally, because this last winter we had hardly any snow, and the ground was frozen only on a few days. Mind you, it's blimming cold out there just now... Clear sky, and 3 degree C.

[Cornelian]

Aha, thanks - here we have very mild temperate winters and they're constantly in the ground sorting about for worms etc. I've never seen them eating anything but worms or insects.

[ohareward]

Hi Cornelian, our blackbirds eat everything. I have had to net my vege patch and fruit trees. We have a nashi pear and they need to ripen on the tree. Before they are ready, the @#&*$%# blackbirds came and pecked at the fruit and then the wasps came. We had to pick them early. The same with other pears, plums. If there is any mulch around they scatter it all over. I hate them

Robin

[Millymollymandy]

Don't you have strawberries, Cornelian? I cannot imagine a blackbird prefering a worm to a strawberry!

My mulch gets scattered when I let the chooks out so what little (in comparison) the blackbirds do is nothing!

You wait till you let your chooks out to free range, Robin!!! Oh you are going to have fun!

[Cornelian]

Yes, I have strawberries - they're not touched by any of the birds. In all my years of gardening I've never seen a blackbird touch anything except worms ... maybe that's because I have such good compost rich soil writhing with worms they don't need to go anywhere else.

I actually work very hard to build up the insect life of my gardens as well ... so many insects, so many birds ... and then peregrine falcons feeding off the birds feeding off the insects and worms.

[Millymollymandy]

Your place sounds lovely, and the sort of climate I'd like to be gardening in! I don't know what happens to our worms in summer as the soil is so dry. It would be nice to be able to pick ripe cherries too, but the birds get them just before they ripen.