I think this is a female having her evening bath

[fruitgums]

She comes here in the evening to cool off and freshen up :)

[Gandalf]

She comes here in the evening to cool off and freshen up :)

I have a Mister and Mrs who both bathe in our garden at different times in the day. Nice to see and watch. Have not photographed them yet though.

Cheers,

[fruitgums]

I always feel very privledged to be able to watch nature first hand in my garden! It never ceases to amaze me. :)

[honeysuckle]

Lovely pics. I am lucky enough to have a resident couple in the garden. Their nest is in the conifers. Mrs Blackbird comes to the birdtable to tuck into my songbird mix before collecting worms for her offspring. Can't wait to see them emerging, but it can't be long now.

[fruitgums]

We always had a resident couple in our hawthorn hedge in the garden, which reared some beautiful young. But 3 years ago I couldn't spot a blackbird anywhere around our garden or anyone else's close by for that matter. Not really sure what happened, maybe some disease wiped them out or could have been mass predation. I think the loss of natural hedges is a culprit also! Anyway it seems we now have the lady in the photo here with a good looking male tooing and frowing with nesting materials. So it's back to apple chopping for me, they love a piece of apple. :)

[PiratesAhoy!]

It's a Mr. Blackbird :) Note the yellow eye ring and beak, which the females don't have. Nice to see him enjoying himself :)

[fruitgums]

Thays good to know, I thought he was a she. :) There is a very dark almost black one comes along with this one also. They are normally very bossy and see all other black birds off. Whats happening there I wonder :confused: .

[sallyh]

Great photos, many thanks

Sally
xx

[fruitgums]

Glad you appreciate them as much as I enjoyed taking them. :)

[fruitgums]

It's a Mr. Blackbird :) Note the yellow eye ring and beak, which the females don't have. Nice to see him enjoying himself :)

Hello Piratesahoy! I have been searching around to try and find out as much about male and females as possible. I am new to bird spotting and am a bit confused by this bird in my pics and a darker blackbirds nest gathering antics . I have seen a couple of photo's which state the pics are female's and they have yellow beaks and yellow rings around their eyes but also the females have a more speckled chest than the males. I have also seen photo's of a more thrush like bird which has been referred to as a female blackbird. Also the juveniles are lighter in colour. Totally confused now! :confused:

[PiratesAhoy!]

It gets confusing when they look like your pics. Bit of both, you could say!

Generally speaking, the females can have quite yellow beaks, but not as yellow as the males. Generally, they don't have yellow eye rings.

Generally, males are much blacker, and females are brown, but the juveniles can go through a 'transitional' stage, where they appear to still be brown, but not as speckly as juveniles or females should be. I think that's what we may have in your pictures. It's not speckly enough to be a female, but not black enough (or yellow in parts) to be a fully developed male.

I know, clear as mud ;)

[fruitgums]

This bird spotting isn't as straight forward as you think is it? At least I'm learning :D and find it Interesting