Subsong
I know that this is not the best picture ever, but it is actually of the bird that I am about to yack on about (and no, there is not much going on in the patch over the last few days).
It's a Blackbird. And it has been doing subsong. I thoroughly enjoy catching this behaviour - I feel that I've been let back stage into a Blackbird rehearsal room. This one is an immature bird. No black head feathers yet, no yellow bill yet - but he has started to sing. Probably not ready to launch with the full version at full volume because he'll attract attention and will end up scrapping, but for now he is finding his feet and snatching a little rehearsal time here and there.
A Blackbird doing singing, but really quietly...
2 comments:
An interesting post. I didn't know about this behaviour.
I had a Dunnock doing subsong in St Katherine Dock yesterday, first time I've actually seen it. It was singing very quietly from the middle of a bush right in front of me and, when I managed to get eyes on it, it was the weirdest thing hearing the sound coming from the bird with the bill clamped shut.
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