Males also have a yellow bill and a yellow eye-ring around their dark eye. Adult females are mostly dark brown on their upperparts, light brown or grey on the throat, and dark brown with slight mottling on the breast and belly; their bill is light brown.


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Juveniles are similar to adult females, but with light mottling over the body. The song is similar to that of the song thrush, but without the repeated phrases that characterise thrush song. Blackbirds are widespread throughout mainland New Zealand and off-shore islands from sea level up to about 1, m altitude, with a lower maximum altitude in the south.

Paul McCartney - Blackbird (Live)

They occur in urban areas, farmlands, orchards and in lowland indigenous forests, being most abundant in urban gardens, parklands, farms and orchards. Blackbirds are also resident on most vegetated islands including Kermadec, Stewart, Chatham, Snares, Auckland and Campbell Islands; they occur as vagrants on Antipodes Island. The blackbird was the most widely reported bird species in the Atlas of Bird Distribution in New Zealand , based on the number of grid squares occupied.

Blackbirds were introduced to New Zealand from on, and are now abundant throughout the country. They are usually seen as single birds or pairs.

Eurasian blackbird

Even where 20 or more blackbirds feed in close proximity, e. The main negative impact of Eurasian blackbirds is the damage they may cause to commercial fruit crops. They can also spread the seeds of weedy plants, and are often a nuisance in gardens by scattering mulch and newly planted seed beds and lawns. On the positive side of the ledger, blackbirds eat snails and slugs and other garden and horticultural invertebrate pests. They have no recognised impacts on native bird species, despite their ubiquitous distribution. Blackbirds breed as solitary, monogamous pairs nesting species, nesting between August and February, with a September — November peak in most localities.

Males establish territories from about April-May. Nests are usually well concealed by foliage in the forks of shrubs or trees 3 to 10 metres above the ground and are a well-constructed woven bowl of grass, small twigs, moss, fragments of plastic bags, dead leaves and may be lightly lined with mud compare with song thrush nest with characteristic mud lining.

One or both sexes build the nest.


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Eggs are laid from August to December. Three or more clutches typically of greenish-blue eggs may be laid during a season especially if an earlier clutch is lost. Incubation is shared by both sexes and takes days. Both sexes feed the chicks. The nestlings are blind and naked when hatched.

They are well feathered days after hatching, and fledge when about days old. Both sexes share with feeding of fledglings, which are often fed for several weeks after leaving the nest. A song thrush has been observed to have laid its eggs in the nest of a blackbird an example of brood parasitism but the two song thrush young that hatched out were ejected from the nest, which was subsequently deserted.

Blackbirds are commonly seen feeding on the ground in parklands, woodlands and suburban gardens, walking slowly or running short distances looking for food. They are strongly territorial, and may chase other species, including tui. It is omnivorous , eating a wide range of insects , earthworms , berries , and fruits. Both sexes are territorial on the breeding grounds, with distinctive threat displays, but are more gregarious during migration and in wintering areas. Pairs stay in their territory throughout the year where the climate is sufficiently temperate.

This common and conspicuous species has given rise to a number of literary and cultural references, frequently related to its song. The common blackbird was described by Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae in as Turdus merula characterised as T. The common blackbird seems to be closest in evolutionary terms to the island thrush T.

It may not immediately be clear why the name "blackbird", first recorded in , was applied to this species, but not to one of the various other common black English birds, such as the carrion crow , raven , rook , or jackdaw. However, in Old English , and in modern English up to about the 18th century, "bird" was used only for smaller or young birds, and larger ones such as crows were called "fowl".

At that time, the blackbird was therefore the only widespread and conspicuous "black bird" in the British Isles. The ouzel usage survived later in poetry, and still occurs as the name of the closely related ring ouzel Turdus torquatus , and in water ouzel, an alternative name for the unrelated but superficially similar white-throated dipper Cinclus cinclus.

Blackbird (Beatles song) - Wikipedia

Two related Asian Turdus thrushes , the white-collared blackbird T. The icterid family of the New World is sometimes called the blackbird family because of some species' superficial resemblance to the common blackbird and other Old World thrushes, but they are not evolutionarily close, being related to the New World warblers and tanagers. As would be expected for a widespread passerine bird species, several geographical subspecies are recognised.

The treatment of subspecies in this article follows Clement et al. The Asian subspecies, the relatively large intermedius also differs in structure and voice, and may represent a distinct species. In Europe, the common blackbird can be confused with the paler-winged first-winter ring ouzel Turdus torquatus or the superficially similar European starling Sturnus vulgaris.

The common blackbird of the nominate subspecies T. The adult male has glossy black plumage , blackish-brown legs, a yellow eye-ring and an orange-yellow bill. The bill darkens somewhat in winter. The juvenile is similar to the female, but has pale spots on the upperparts, and the very young juvenile also has a speckled breast. Young birds vary in the shade of brown, with darker birds presumably males. It has been introduced to Australia and New Zealand.

Common over most of its range in woodland, the common blackbird has a preference for deciduous trees with dense undergrowth. However, gardens provide the best breeding habitat with up to 7. This widespread species has occurred as a vagrant in many locations in Eurasia outside its normal range, but records from North America are normally considered to involve escapees, including, for example, the bird in Quebec.

Common blackbird

The male common blackbird defends its breeding territory, chasing away other males or utilising a "bow and run" threat display. This consists of a short run, the head first being raised and then bowed with the tail dipped simultaneously. If a fight between male blackbirds does occur, it is usually short and the intruder is soon chased away. The female blackbird is also aggressive in the spring when it competes with other females for a good nesting territory, and although fights are less frequent, they tend to be more violent.

The bill's appearance is important in the interactions of the common blackbird. The territory-holding male responds more aggressively towards models with orange bills than to those with yellow bills, and reacts least to the brown bill colour typical of the first-year male. The female is, however, relatively indifferent to bill colour, but responds instead to shinier bills.

As long as winter food is available, both the male and female will remain in the territory throughout the year, although occupying different areas. Migrants are more gregarious, travelling in small flocks and feeding in loose groups in the wintering grounds. The flight of migrating birds comprises bursts of rapid wing beats interspersed with level or diving movement, and differs from both the normal fast agile flight of this species and the more dipping action of larger thrushes. The male common blackbird attracts the female with a courtship display which consists of oblique runs combined with head-bowing movements, an open beak, and a "strangled" low song.

The female remains motionless until she raises her head and tail to permit copulation. The cup-shaped nest is made with grasses, leaves and other vegetation, bound together with mud.

Blackbird (Beatles song)

It is built by the female alone. She lays three to five usually four bluish-green eggs marked with reddish-brown blotches, [21] heaviest at the larger end; [22] the eggs of nominate T. Fledging takes another 10—19 average If the female starts another nest, the male alone will feed the fledged young. A common blackbird has an average life expectancy of 2. In its native Northern Hemisphere range, the first-year male common blackbird of the nominate race may start singing as early as late January in fine weather in order to establish a territory, followed in late March by the adult male.

The male's song is a varied and melodious low-pitched fluted warble, given from trees, rooftops or other elevated perches mainly in the period from March to June, sometimes into the beginning of July. It has a number of other calls, including an aggressive seee , a pook-pook-pook alarm for terrestrial predators like cats, and various chink and chook, chook vocalisations. The territorial male invariably gives chink-chink calls in the evening in an usually unsuccessful attempt to deter other blackbirds from roosting in its territory overnight.

At least two subspecies, T. The common blackbird is omnivorous , eating a wide range of insects , earthworms , seeds and berries. It feeds mainly on the ground, running and hopping with a start-stop-start progress. It pulls earthworms from the soil, usually finding them by sight, but sometimes by hearing, and roots through leaf litter for other invertebrates.

The mono version contains bird sounds different from the stereo recording, and was originally issued on a mono incarnation of The Beatles it has since been issued worldwide as part of The Beatles in Mono CD box set. In , McCartney included the song, along with the Beatles track " Michelle ", [16] as part of his acoustic medley in the television special James Paul McCartney.

In , McCartney performed the song at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival , commenting prior to singing it on how it had been written in response to the Civil Rights Movement, and added, "It's so great to realise so many civil rights issues have been overcome. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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