Daddy daycare
Since Saturday lunchtime the garden has been filled with the whistles, pinks and alarm calls of a male blackbird. It has been continuous as he moves from vantage point to vantage point to keep an eye on his youngster (I think it's only one, but it is hard to know for sure as they keep fairly well hidden). The mum is nowhere to be seen and I am assuming (hoping) that it's not because she has been killed but because she has started a new nest to start another brood (apparently when things are good the male does get left to 'ride shotgun' whilst the mum starts again).
It has been SO noisy here from dawn to dusk as he calls almost constantly, with the young one sometime whistling back. Although not all of the shots have the dad with his mouth open, it has amazed me that a lot of the noise he makes is without fully opening his mouth, so the shot with his mouth full of worms was accompanied by lots of whistling.gif "Smile")
On this occasion the fledgling was in the tree and he made his way to the fence by the tree and hopped back and fore on the fence trying to gauge if it was safe to go to the little one and reveal his whereabouts for about ten minutes. It's hard work being a single Dad
I've not caught much sight of the little one, but finally today managed a clearish shot which is why I waited. But the last shot shows the impatient Dad running off a sparrow who dared to land near his offspring.
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