Bye bye Blackbird

The deceased Blackbird

For the past few evenings I have been noticing a male Blackbird hopping around in my concrete backyard. I would be working on my sofa that faces the garden and then I would notice the familiar black shape of this common urban thrush just outside my french windows. Nothing unusual you might think. But there was something weird about the whole scenario. I was seeing this bird hopping around very late into the evening just as dusk was really taking hold.

Any self respecting Blackbird would have been safely tucked up in a lofty, leafy roosting site and certainly not still out in the open in a confined space. What is more, there was something odd about its behaviour. It seemed a tad lacklustre and at the back of my mind I thought that it might not be well.

This morning, I returned to my sofa to see its slumped shape face down on the concrete. I actually felt upset. I went out to examine the corpse to find a bloody streak of missing feathers from the base of its neck to its crown. I could only surmise that it had just been attack by something like a Sparrowhawk and it’s blind panic, flew straight into a wall.

That’s life and that’s death.

Such a beautiful bird.

2 replies
  1. Linda Sullivan
    Linda Sullivan says:

    It's always heartbreaking to see such beautiful creatures succumb to life's harshness. Blackbirds are truly beautiful birds, so sad to read your post. I hope he/she is flying freely at the Rainbow Bridge.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *