Blackbird photo gallery

Eurasian Blackbird numbers are high in Bicknor Wood during the winter. Possibly they have come across from the continent to escape harsher conditions, possibly they are local migrants who find rich pickings amongst the leaf litter of the woodland floor.

This particular bird is a female and she was very accommodating, leafing through the litter just a few yards from the bug hotel benches in a low February sunshine. 

The coincidence of a cooperative subject in good light is not a chance to be missed, so I took a lot of pictures. I hope you enjoy just a few. 

In poor light, she looks drab brown, but good light enables us to see the details of her markings. 

In case you have never come across a nictitating membrane, the dead-eye look in the picture below shows it well. Birds have 2 eyelids that open and close vertically in the same way that ours do, but the nictitating membrane crosses the eye horizontally. 

It is translucent and protects the blackbird's eye from debris and damage while she roots through the leaves. 

On a very close shot, it is possible to see the rictal bristles around her bill.

 

These are common to many birds and pronounced in flycatchers. Their exact function is not well established. They are thought to be sensory devices. 

Unfortunately the male was far less cooperative and stayed a long way off.