Blackbird V Thrush
Derick Beech
wonder if part of the problem is the Blackbird. A Thrush arrived in my
garden in the middle of February, and was heard singing several times a day
for a period of two weeks (sheer pleasure).
The problem was that the Blackbirds would not tolerate the Thrush in the
garden and chased it away,
is part of the trouble that there are so many Blackbirds for limited
habitat, the timid Thrush has problems nesting and raising young
successfully? I haven't heard the Thrush for several days now.
Look foward to reading comments from fellow birders.
Derick
Easingwold, N. Yorks.
Daphne Dean
Derick Beech wrote:
For only the second time in years, I have had a song thrush visiting my
garden this week, attracted by the ivy berries.
However, each time it tries to feed, it is chased away by a blackbird.
Is any correlation between blackbird and thrush numbers?
Daphne Dean
Hatfield, Herts.
Peter Gudgeon
>> The decline of the thrush is well documented as well as the causes, but I
>> wonder if part of the problem is the Blackbird
>For only the second time in years, I have had a song thrush visiting my
>garden this week, attracted by the ivy berries.
>However, each time it tries to feed, it is chased away by a blackbird.
>
>Is any correlation between blackbird and thrush numbers?
>
>Daphne Dean
>Hatfield, Herts.
It may just be coincidence, but in the last 18 months I've only seen a Song
Thrush in my garden only a total of 4 times, yet there is a thriving population
of Blackbirds in the area (seen most days in my garden). I'm not saying that
the two are linked, but you have raised an interesting question.
Peter Gudgeon
Hemel Hempstead, Herts
Martin Rand
Mistle Thrush nesting. They were able to hold their own against
Blackbirds, and were also very aggressive towards the local Magpie
family.
In the last couple of years we've lost the Mistle Thrushes, but this
year for the first time a pair of Song Thrushes has arrived and hung
around for several weeks. We woke up to their song this morning. The
number of local blackbirds doesn't seem to have changed.
Incidentally, any bird round here after ivy berries has to join the
long queue behind the Wood Pigeons! Numbers of resident suburban Wood
Pigeons (not to mention the winter incomers) round here just keep on
going up and up. Peregrine, anyone?
On Mon, 06 Mar 2000 22:34:13 +0000, Daphne Dean
<de...@csma-netlink.co.uk> wrote:
>
>For only the second time in years, I have had a song thrush visiting my
>garden this week, attracted by the ivy berries.
>However, each time it tries to feed, it is chased away by a blackbird.
>
>Is any correlation between blackbird and thrush numbers?
>
>Daphne Dean
>Hatfield, Herts.
>
>
>
Martin (off-duty)
Richard Candeland
beck.freeserve.co.uk> writes
>The decline of the thrush is well documented as well as the causes, but I
An interesting question, I give you my observations. There is a resident
song-thrush 2-doors along from us who sings from the top of a conifer
almost without end. Yet, in the whole of this year, I have only had 1
song-thrush sighting actually in my garden (despite pond, and an
inordinate number of slugs and snails). This seems to be the case year
after year. They just don't like our garden. We have loads of blackbirds
and generally they are so busy chasing each other, they seem to ignore
the thrush, when it does drop in, which is usually to pick up some
exceedingly rancid looking pond-weed, presumably to line its nest.
Perhaps your problem is 'not enough blackbirds', they have time to bully
the thrush! :-)
--
Richard Candeland
Phil
beck.freeserve.co.uk> writes
>The decline of the thrush is well documented as well as the causes, but I
>garden in the middle of February, and was heard singing several times a day
>for a period of two weeks (sheer pleasure).
>The problem was that the Blackbirds would not tolerate the Thrush in the
>garden and chased it away,
>is part of the trouble that there are so many Blackbirds for limited
>habitat, the timid Thrush has problems nesting and raising young
>successfully? I haven't heard the Thrush for several days now.
>Look foward to reading comments from fellow birders.
theory. If it were true it would certainly have been highlighted by all
the research that has been & is being done on reasons for the decline in
Song Thrushes. I should also point out that I have seen many of both
species, & have yet to see any aggression between them.
--
Phil
Janet Galpin and Oliver Patterson
from "Derick Beech" <der...@delbeck.freeserve.co.uk> contains these words:
> The decline of the thrush is well documented as well as the causes, but I
> wonder if part of the problem is the Blackbird. A Thrush arrived in my
> garden in the middle of February, and was heard singing several times a day
> for a period of two weeks (sheer pleasure).
> The problem was that the Blackbirds would not tolerate the Thrush in the
> garden and chased it away,
> is part of the trouble that there are so many Blackbirds for limited
> habitat, the timid Thrush has problems nesting and raising young
> successfully? I haven't heard the Thrush for several days now.
> Look foward to reading comments from fellow birders.
> Derick
> Easingwold, N. Yorks.
We get all three species in our garden. The Song thrushes tend to
stay away from the main feeding areas which are dominated by
Blackbirds and numerous smaller species which are clearly not part of
the Turdus threat-pattern. Fieldfares come for waste apples during
the winter, but have to endure fairly severe bullying from the Blackbirds.
Everything knows its place until the Mistle thrushes come. Then
anything on four legs or two is met by either naked physical
aggression or melodramatic posturing and whirring.
Despite the best efforts of the Mistles, they only manage to chase
away the opposition for a few seconds. Ditto the Blackbirds with the
Fieldfare. The Song thrushes, meanwhile, wander around in the
flowerbeds until the hassle is over and then pop up by the feeders
for a morsel or by the pond for a drink.
I have a feeling they cope rather better with natural threats than
most of us do. None of this is very scientific though, as Phil and
others would point out, and I must admit I'd have to agree with them.
Oliver.
Stephen
garden, one of the many Blackbirds chases it away dementedly.
Worse, our winter feeding programme is becoming monopolised by Woodpigeons
and Starlings. I know the latter are interesting and charming birds, but
they whizz through everything we put out in no time and tend to keep the
smaller and perhaps even more interesting birds away.
As for the Woodpigeons, well - give me a gun. No sooner have I cleaned and
refilled the bird bath than one of them comes along and deposits huge t**ds
in it (again). Similarly the lawn, and since we have a very young
granddaughter who definitely takes first priority, we shall soon stop
feeding the birds to give the garden a chance to get cleaner before the
decent weather arrives.
On the credit side, this winter has been the best for many years for some
species, namely Blackcap (both sexes) and Brambling (ditto) all winter.
Siskins much scarcer - just occasional.
(Southern Hampshire).
Paul Graham
beck.freeserve.co.uk> writes
>wonder if part of the problem is the Blackbird. A Thrush arrived in my
>garden in the middle of February, and was heard singing several times a day
>for a period of two weeks (sheer pleasure).
>The problem was that the Blackbirds would not tolerate the Thrush in the
>garden and chased it away,
>is part of the trouble that there are so many Blackbirds for limited
>habitat, the timid Thrush has problems nesting and raising young
>successfully? I haven't heard the Thrush for several days now.
>Look foward to reading comments from fellow birders.
>
> Derick
> Easingwold, N. Yorks.
>
>
>
>
>
>
ago was the rarity of the Song Thrush down here. The Blackbird, on the
other hand, was every bit as plentiful as in other places I had lived in
the UK. Spong Thrushes down here rarely visit the garden and tend to
prefer the field of even woodland - something I found unusual.
What I will say is that, on the few occasions I have seen Blackbird and
Song Thrush in the garden simultaneously, I have never noticed any
animosity between the two species.
--
Paul Graham
lesley.burtonbrown
On the subject of thrushes being intimidated by blackbirds, I thought
readers might be interested in what I saw in my local park last week. The
grass was soggy and quite waterlogged in parts following several downpours.
I counted more than a dozen thrushes pulling worms from the sodden grass,
happily feeding among a larger number of blackbirds. The two didn't seem to
be paying much attention to the other -= too busy filling their faces I
think!
Derick Beech <der...@delbeck.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:8a17ho$msr$1...@newsg1.svr.pol.co.uk...
Richard Candeland
Stephen <rogue...@removethisbit.which.net> writes
>As for the Woodpigeons, well - give me a gun.
Am I allowed to admit I had a rather excellent plate of wood-pigeon in
one of our local pubs last Sunday evening? Not sure whether it was wild
or 'farmed' as the menu didn't state this, although much of their other
stuff was locally sourced. Perhaps that's why we haven't had all the
flower buds from our lesser celandines eaten off this year :-)
--
Richard Candeland
Martin Collinson
Richard Candeland wrote:
>
> In article <Zyex4.6161$Zj2.1...@news2-win.server.ntlworld.com>,
> Stephen <rogue...@removethisbit.which.net> writes
> >As for the Woodpigeons, well - give me a gun.
>
> Am I allowed to admit I had a rather excellent plate of wood-pigeon in
> one of our local pubs last Sunday evening? Not sure whether it was wild
> or 'farmed' as the menu didn't state this, although much of their other
> stuff was locally sourced.
Hi Richard
Farmed woodpigeon would be a bit of a novelty. They will have been
wild-caught, and there is allowance under schedule 3 of the WaC Act to
sell them at any time. They have been shooting woodpigeons all winter
on the farms up the road from us, but it doesn't seem to have done any
good (I estimated 5000 birds in the 1km square in December, and 5000
now!).
Cheers
Martin
sheila.birch
it for a couple of weeks and was wondering myself if it had something to do
with the fact that the blackbirds chased it whenever it came into the
garden. You have solved my query.