Blackbirds nest.

[starlingqueen]

I have been watching a pair of blackbirds building a nest in a tree in my front garden. Today I was out there and the female flew past me, just missing my head. I went and had a look at the nest and this is what I found.

[Deleted]

Very nice Too bad it's not around Bute Park in Cardiff. I know a Masters student who would be extremely interested

[starlingqueen]

May 24, 2014 12:18:42 GMT Ira said:

Very nice Too bad it's not around Bute Park in Cardiff. I know a Masters student who would be extremely interested

I'll keep you posted. I'm a bit worried about the long black tape/string in the nest. I had a female who got caught in a nest by one of those awful string bags people hand the fat balls in. I had to cut her free. I might have to snip the string thing up a bit so there is no accidents.

[Deleted]

starlingqueen It's good of you to be concerned. I'd say just keep an eye on them as much as you can without disturbing the parents too much. I'll ask my supervisor what he or one of his PhD students (who is looking at nesting birds) would recommend

[starlingqueen]

Thank you. I don't really want to disturb them but I'd hate to see one of them get hurt. They are quite used to us though. They often come down while we're out there.

[starlingqueen]

It shows how adaptable birds are. The nest is in this tree.

[Deleted]

You're welcome I know what you mean. I've often peeked into nests when we've had blue tits here, but I've never touched them and would be nervous to cause them to abandon the nest.

Just have to wait for a reply, now. I've sent him the photos as well to see if that helps. Trouble is, if it's woven into the nest you may risk damaging the nest structure.

Although, if you do try to remove it and the parents do abandon the chicks (which hopefully they won't, apparently birds won't smell you on chicks if you return them to a nest, etc) then if the chicks aren't too old you might be able to rear them.
I tried with a young magpie once, but he was already at the hopping around stage with his eyes wide open so I just looked like a terrifying predator. Plus my granddad didn't really want to keep him, and since I've discovered that corvids are taught by their parents so I wouldn't have been able to release him. Sadly I didn't think to just grab him and lob him back over the fence into the forest when I first saw him. I bypassed him and then went back because he was on the pavement by a main road next to a school full of horrible teenagers. I didn't manage to catch him until after his parents had left.

[starlingqueen]

I've seen programmes where they take the birds from the nest to ring them and weigh them, they never have any problems.

[Moogie]

Lovely eggs and nest....Ira love your new aviator

[Deleted]

starlingqueen Very true. It should be fine as long as the parents come back to find all their chicks. Mind you, people train for ages to ring birds and they're really fussy about what you do without a license. Still, if the parents are fairly comfortable around you then I doubt they would react badly. Perhaps wait until the chicks are hatched and the parents have nipped off to grab some food for them, then you should be able to get in, cut the wire out and nip off without adverse effects. When I had to photo a blackbird nest I was told to make sure I didn't disturb the vegetation too much, and had to kick the nettles where I'd been lying back up, so that it didn't look as if anyone had been there.

Moogie Thank you

[Deleted]

starlingqueen This is what my supervisor said:

"What I would do is wait till the female leaves the nest, then quickly visit with a pair of scissors and snip through any loops of the string that can potentially entangle the parents or chicks.
Avoid visiting at dusk, to give the parents plenty of time to go back to the nest after the disturbance."

[starlingqueen]

May 24, 2014 13:36:40 GMT Ira said:

starlingqueen This is what my supervisor said:

"What I would do is wait till the female leaves the nest, then quickly visit with a pair of scissors and snip through any loops of the string that can potentially entangle the parents or chicks.
Avoid visiting at dusk, to give the parents plenty of time to go back to the nest after the disturbance."

Thanks Ira, I'll do it tomorrow as I have already looked at it today. Don't want to upset her too much. She has been back so I know I've not scared her off at least.

[Deleted]

Good plan I hope it goes well, which it should. I certainly have no doubts that you're very capable where animals are concerned

[stace]

BBrrrrr. It looks a bit cold where you are. Is it not yet getting summery? Hope those little eggs are cosy enough in there.

[BudgiesBuddy]

Wow, blue eggs

It maybe an old picture, Stace