A blackbird winked at me

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Roofless Toothless

Original Poster:

5,611 posts

131 months

Friday 21st April 2017
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We have a friendly blackbird in the garden. I know it's not uncommon for blackbirds and robins to get quite fearless when you are turning the ground over, but this little fellow goes a lot further. For instance, he will let me get within an arms length when he is on the bird feeder, quite happily continuing to peck away.

Yesterday, I spent quite a few hours in the garden, and when I was working near the feeder, there he was again, chiselling away at a fat ball. But when I looked again, he had become quite still, and I was surprised to see his eyelid close, and he gave every indication of having a little nap. I was close enough to reach out and touch him. He turned his head a bit, and the eye on the other side of his head was open!

Does anyone know what this behaviour signifies? Ever seen such a thing?

Boosted LS1

21,165 posts

259 months

Friday 21st April 2017
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Roofless Toothless

Original Poster:

5,611 posts

131 months

Friday 21st April 2017
quotequote all
That's interesting. I might try blinking at him!

He was quite clearly just doing it with the eye facing me, not the one facing away. I thought he might have been sick at first, but no sign of that later, and he is out there busying himself in the garden today, just as usual.

Oddly, he only seems to want to get friendly with me. I took my four year old granddaughter out there once to get a close look at him and he wouldn't let her get anywhere near without flying off. He even took a bath yesterday with me standing a few feet away.

I wonder if I bought a tub of mealworms I might get him to hand feed?

s2kjock

1,677 posts

146 months

Friday 21st April 2017
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My father could almost hand feed a couple of blackies from the back door of the house with raisins - they would often appear when he opened the door. From memory it was very much him they recognised, and they stayed further away if I appeared instead.

Orchid1

877 posts

107 months

Friday 21st April 2017
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A bird watched me take a shower the other week and I still don't know what to make of it.

mike74

3,687 posts

131 months

Friday 21st April 2017
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We used to have a female blackbird that would come right into the kitchen when the back door was left open and stand there waiting for someone to come in from the living room and feed it.

Lotus Notes

1,197 posts

190 months

Friday 21st April 2017
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My parents had a blackbird that regulary came into the garden for several years. It would come straight up to them and stare!




We knew it was the same one as it had a white mutant feather sticking out at a jaunty angle..

rolex

3,110 posts

257 months

Friday 21st April 2017
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mike74 said:
We used to have a female blackbird that would come right into the kitchen when the back door was left open and stand there waiting for someone to come in from the living room and feed it.
my old grandma, bless her soul, would lure blackbirds into the kitchen and when there were four and twenty she would batter them and bake them in a pie.

Roscco

276 posts

221 months

Friday 21st April 2017
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That sounds great.

I once rescued a young seagull that had crashed into a wet road (I think he must of thought it was water) and after a couple of days recovery in a shoebox (open, like a wee nest) he was hesitant to leave.
He wouldn't go far from the garden for a good 3-4 days.
I called him Steven.

Roofless Toothless

Original Poster:

5,611 posts

131 months

Friday 21st April 2017
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It's lovely to teach kids how to appreciate the natural world around them. You don't need to go on an African Safari - there's plenty to see in your own back garden. Earlier this week my four year old granddaughter and myself were watching my blackbird taking a bath. She told me she had never seen a bird doing this before. The look on her face was precious.

Last week she spent all of one afternoon playing with a wood louse she found in the garden, making it a home in a plastic box. And some people from Forest School came to her nursery school recently and had a nature hunt in the garden.

Last summer I was at her house, reading her a book in the garden, swinging in a hammock, when a sparrow chick landed virtually on top of us, obviously just out of the nest and not having too good a time of it. It stood on my finger, and you really got the impression it was desperately after help, from any quarter. We took it indoors, and after a bit of Internet research we made it a meal from mashed up and watered down cat food. It had a little meal of this from a cotton bud, and after about an hour suddenly shot out of the window and back into the garden. I hadn't talked with her much about this since, but a week or two back she said that she still sees this little bird when she looks out of her bedroom window into the garden. How could I disagree!

It's lovely to interact in some way with the wild life around us, and to be able to pass this joy on to our kids. Pity the kids who grow up without this encouragement.

Dr Murdoch

3,427 posts

134 months

Friday 21st April 2017
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Roscco said:
That sounds great.

I once rescued a young seagull that had crashed into a wet road (I think he must of thought it was water) and after a couple of days recovery in a shoebox (open, like a wee nest) he was hesitant to leave.
He wouldn't go far from the garden for a good 3-4 days.
I called him Steven.
I hope that was true hehe