Baby Birds
April 16, 2007 by Pat Allosaurs
Filed under Blog
Remember how in this post I described how a pair of blackbirds had nested in our window-box? Well at last I can update you on their progress.
Three of the four eggs hatched into scraggy, blind and naked chicks that looked no bigger than a couple of centemetres long. Mother blackbird kept them warm and safe by sitting on them till she decided they were big enough, at which point she was able to leave the nest for more than a few seconds at a time, and I was able to snatch these pictures. She wasn’t really bothered by me at all, I’d be working at the kitchen table, she’d be brooding the chicks, we were just a couple of inches away from each other. The chicks were completely used to me too, the male however diddn’t like the look of me at all and muttered to himself crossly whenever he caught a glimpse of me. The chicks grew at a phenomenal rate and before long they were far too big for the nest, and spent a lot of time sitting on the edge, scratching, preening and stretching. I imagine it was very hot and itchy in the nest once they got so big. 
They are well and truly wedged in here…
This little fluffy butt is completely squashing his siblings, no wonder they were in a hurry to leave! Yes, sadly they all flew the nest this weekend over the space of a couple of days. I actually saw the biggest one (pictured above) fledge while I was eating my breakfast, it just did a kamikaze dive straight out of the nest, hit the wall opposite, and plummeted flailing into the bushes below. I was very anxious about the little guy, but baby birds are tougher than they look and he was actually fine. Another one did the big jump while we were out on the town, and the final chick made a break for freedom on Sunday morning. I thought I would never see them again, but they are now living in thick undergrowth at the bottom of the garden. Baby blackbirds fly no better than I do when they leave the nest, so they are still dependant on their parents for food and protection until their adult plumage has grown and they are strong enough to look after themselves. it seems very harsh and completely crazy – apparently mortality rates are very high. However I’m hoping that our blackbirds will reach maturity, and I’ll keep eagerly watching them in our garden till they’ve grown.
Jay on Fri, 25th May 2007 6:37 am
Came across this whilst looking for info on what age baby blackbirds leave their nest. We had blackbirds nesting every year outside our kitchen door but this year ……… nothing. Then we noticed a blackbird flying out of the climber over our garden shed and to our delight found that she had made a nest right up against one of the windows!! A perfect viewing gallery!! She laid 5 eggs and all hatched on Saturday 12th May, we went away on the 15th for one week and left all five doing well. When we returned on the 22nd there were only 4 chicks but they had grown so much,. I spent a lovely hour in the shed 6.15 – 7.15 am yesterday morning, just sat amongst all the gardening stuff with a cup of coffee watching mum and dad feed their young and clear up after them (didn’t realise blackbirds were so housepround!) Noticed that they seem to be two larger chicks who seem always to get the food and the smallest chick never gets any, can the parents not see he is fading away and half the size of the others?? Seriously tempted to feed him myself but of course nature is cruel and I intend to leave well alone and just watch things unfold from the privacy of the shed. The largest of the chicks keeps standing on the edge of the nest and testing his wings but from previous experience I would say he is far too young to leave the nest which is why I was checking. Hopefully he would survive if he tumbled out, our garden is large with lots and lots of ground cover, unfortunately our neighbours have cats AND magpies the latter being the main killer of baby birds over the last 17 years.We have a dog, gentle as a baby and she keeps an eye on things during the day…. the blackbirds have been known to come into the kitchen and share her breakfast, sometimes when she is still eating so they see her as no threat!!
Will go check on the babies again …..
Pat on Fri, 25th May 2007 7:05 am
Hello Jay, it’s lovely seeing them grow isn’t it? Judging with what happened to our lot, the smallest bird may remain a little longer in the nest in order to fatten up more, although if it really is a lot weaker, sadly it may not make it, as the parents will concentrate on the stronger chicks if they sense there is no hope. Fingers crossed that there is. Baby blackbirds leave the nest very young, at about 13 – 14 days before they have even learned to fly, and live in the undergrowth while their parents show them the ropes so if there are plenty of places to hide in your garden they should be fine, especially with a dog guarding them! We also have foxes and magpies – in fact magpies robbed our blackbirds on their second attempt and sadly they have not returned. Good luck with your brood and thank you for commenting! Let me know how they get on :)
Jay on Sat, 26th May 2007 12:48 pm
:( Sad news, the magpie visited the nest and we lost two chicks, the other two left the nest and are being looked after by both parents on the ground.
Pat on Thu, 31st May 2007 9:29 am
That’s awful! Fingers crossed that the remaining chicks will survive…