We have the most unimaginative blackbird!

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Male blackbirds have a distinctive whistling song, and are known to modify their songs and sometimes incorporate sounds they have heard such as telephones and car alarms. So naturally every bird’s song is likely to be different. Nevertheless I have never paid close attention to their individual songs until now; I just thought they were broadly similar. But now I have noticed that this is not necessarily the case, and what has drawn it to my attention is the fact that ‘our’ blackbird, the one that perches on our house roof to sing every morning and evening, seems to be really lacking in imagination. He sings the same four-note tune over and over. Frankly, I’m getting tired of it! When I go for a walk and hear other blackbirds in the trees and hedges, they have much more interesting and varied songs, and it isn’t a regional thing - even birds just a field away are better songsters than ours! I wonder if I could persuade him to improve if I played some loud classical music or something? All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2021.