Common blackbird
Common blackbird | |
---|---|
Male T. m. merula | |
Female T. m. mauritanicus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Turdidae |
Genus: | Turdus |
Species: | T. merula
|
Binomial name | |
Turdus merula | |
Global range based on reports to eBird Summer range Year-round range Winter range
|
The common blackbird (Turdus merula) is a
The adult male of the common blackbird (Turdus merula merula, the
.Both sexes are
Taxonomy and systematics
The common blackbird was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Turdus merula (characterised as T. ater, rostro palpebrisque fulvis).[4] The binomial name derives from two Latin words, turdus, "thrush", and merula, "blackbird", the latter giving rise to its French name, merle,[5] and its Scots name, merl.[6]
About 65 species of medium to large thrushes are in the genus Turdus, characterised by rounded heads, longish, pointed wings, and usually melodious songs. Although two European thrushes, the song thrush and mistle thrush, are early offshoots from the Eurasian lineage of Turdus thrushes after they spread north from Africa, the blackbird is descended from ancestors that had colonised the Canary Islands from Africa and subsequently reached Europe from there.[7] It is close in evolutionary terms to the island thrush (T. poliocephalus) of Southeast Asia and islands in the southwest Pacific, which probably diverged from T. merula stock fairly recently.[8]
It may not immediately be clear why the name "blackbird", first recorded in 1486, was applied to this species, but not to one of the various other common black English birds, such as the carrion crow, raven, rook, or jackdaw. However, in Old English, and in modern English up to about the 18th century, "bird" was used only for smaller or young birds, and larger ones such as crows were called "fowl". At that time, the blackbird was therefore the only widespread and conspicuous "black bird" in the British Isles.[9] Until about the 17th century, another name for the species was ouzel, ousel or wosel (from Old English osle, cf. German Amsel). Another variant occurs in Act 3 of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, where Bottom refers to "The Woosell cocke, so blacke of hew, With Orenge-tawny bill". The ouzel usage survived later in poetry, and still occurs as the name of the closely related ring ouzel (Turdus torquatus), and in water ouzel, an alternative name for the unrelated but superficially similar white-throated dipper (Cinclus cinclus).[10]
Five related Asian Turdus
The icterid family of the New World is sometimes called the blackbird family because of some species' superficial resemblance to the common blackbird and other Old World thrushes, but they are not evolutionarily close, being related to the New World warblers and tanagers.[13] The term is often limited to smaller species with mostly or entirely black plumage, at least in the breeding male, notably the cowbirds,[14] the grackles,[15] and for around 20 species with "blackbird" in the name, such as the red-winged blackbird and the melodious blackbird.[13]
Subspecies
As would be expected for a widespread passerine bird species, several geographical subspecies are recognised. The treatment of subspecies in this article follows Clement et al. (2000).[8]
- T. m. merula, the nominate subspecies, breeds commonly throughout much of Europe from
- T. m. azorensis is a small race which breeds in the Azores. The male is darker and glossier than merula.[16]
- T. m. cabrerae, named for Ángel Cabrera, the Spanish zoologist, resembles azorensis and breeds in Madeira and the western Canary Islands.[16]
- T. m. mauritanicus, another small dark subspecies with a glossy black male plumage, breeds in central and northern Morocco, coastal Algeria and northern Tunisia.[16]
- T m. aterrimus breeds in Hungary, south and east to southern Greece, Crete, northern Turkey and northern Iran. It winters in southern Turkey, northern Egypt, Iraq and southern Iran. It is smaller than merula with a duller male and paler female plumage.[16]
- T. m. syriacus breeds on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey south to Jordan, Israel and the northern Sinai. It is mostly resident, but part of the population moves southwest or west to winter in the Jordan Valley and in the Nile Delta of northern Egypt south to about Cairo. Both sexes of this subspecies are darker and greyer than the equivalent merula plumages.[8]
- T. m. intermedius is an Asian race breeding from Central Russia to Tajikistan, western and northeastern Afghanistan, and eastern China. Many birds are resident, but some are altitudinal migrants and occur in southern Afghanistan and southern Iraq in winter.[8] This is a large subspecies, with a sooty-black male and a blackish-brown female.[17]
The Central Asian subspecies, the relatively large intermedius, also differs in structure and voice, and may represent a distinct species.[17] Alternatively, it has been suggested that it should be considered a subspecies of T. maximus,[8] but it differs in structure, voice and the appearance of the eye-ring.[17][18]
-
Female of subspecies merula
-
Juvenile T. m. merula in England
-
Young adult T. m. merula in Oxfordshire
-
A leucistic adult male in England with much white in the plumage
-
T. m. cabrerae on Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain
Similar species
In Europe, the common blackbird can be confused with the paler-winged first-winter
Description
The common blackbird of the nominate subspecies T. m. merula is 23.5–29 cm (9.3–11.4 in) in length, has a long tail, and weighs 80–125 g (2.8–4.4 oz). The adult male has glossy black plumage, blackish-brown legs, a yellow eye-ring and an orange-yellow bill. The bill darkens somewhat in winter.[19] The adult female is sooty-brown with a dull yellowish-brownish bill, a brownish-white throat and some weak mottling on the breast. The juvenile is similar to the female, but has pale spots on the upperparts, and the very young juvenile also has a speckled breast. Young birds vary in the shade of brown, with darker birds presumably males.[19] The first year male resembles the adult male, but has a dark bill and weaker eye ring, and its folded wing is brown, rather than black like the body plumage.[8]
Distribution and habitat
The common blackbird breeds in temperate Eurasia, North Africa, the
Common over most of its range in woodland, the common blackbird has a preference for deciduous trees with dense undergrowth. However, gardens provide the best breeding habitat with up to 7.3 pairs per hectare (nearly three pairs per acre), with woodland typically holding about a tenth of that density, and open and very built-up habitats even less.[24] They are often replaced by the related ring ouzel in areas of higher altitude.[25] The common blackbird also lives in parks, gardens and hedgerows.[26]
The common blackbird occurs at elevations of up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in Europe, 2,300 m (7,500 ft) in North Africa, and at 900–1,820 m (2,950–5,970 ft) in peninsular India and Sri Lanka, but the large Himalayan subspecies range much higher, with T. m. maximus breeding at 3,200–4,800 m (10,500–15,700 ft) and remaining above 2,100 m (6,900 ft) even in winter.[8]
This widespread species has occurred as a vagrant in many locations in Eurasia outside its normal range, but records from North America are normally considered to involve escapees, including, for example, the 1971 bird in Quebec.[27] However, a 1994 record from Bonavista, Newfoundland, has been accepted as a genuine wild bird,[8] and the species is therefore on the North American list.[28]
Behaviour and ecology
The male common blackbird defends its breeding territory, chasing away other males or utilising a "bow and run" threat display. This consists of a short run, the head first being raised and then bowed with the tail dipped simultaneously. If a fight between male blackbirds does occur, it is usually short and the intruder is soon chased away. The female blackbird is also aggressive in the spring when it competes with other females for a good nesting territory, and although fights are less frequent, they tend to be more violent.[24]
The bill's appearance is important in the interactions of the common blackbird. The territory-holding male responds more aggressively towards models with orange bills than to those with yellow bills, and reacts least to the brown bill colour typical of the first-year male. The female is, however, relatively indifferent to bill colour, but responds instead to shinier bills.[29]
As long as winter food is available, both the male and female will remain in the territory throughout the year, although occupying different areas. Migrants are more gregarious, travelling in small flocks and feeding in loose groups in the wintering grounds. The flight of migrating birds comprises bursts of rapid wing beats interspersed with level or diving movement, and differs from both the normal fast agile flight of this species and the more dipping action of larger thrushes.[16]
Breeding
The male common blackbird attracts the female with a courtship display which consists of oblique runs combined with head-bowing movements, an open beak, and a "strangled" low song. The female remains motionless until she raises her head and tail to permit copulation.[24] This species is monogamous, and the established pair will usually stay together as long as they both survive.[16] Pair separation rates of up to 20% have been noted following poor breeding.[30] Although the species is socially monogamous, there have been studies showing as much as 17% extra-pair paternity.[31]
The nominate T. merula may commence breeding in March, but eastern and Indian races are a month or more later, and the introduced New Zealand birds start nesting in August (late winter).
The female incubates for 12–14 days before the
A common blackbird has an average life expectancy of 2.4 years,[35] and, based on data from bird ringing, the oldest recorded age is 21 years and 10 months.[36]
-
female with nesting material
-
Eggs in a nest
-
Two chicks in a nest
-
Blackbird fledgelings being fed
-
Male feeding chicks
-
Common blackbird foraging in Norfolk, England
-
A common blackbird eating figs near Toulouse, France
Songs and calls
Song 1 |
Song 2 |
Song 3 |
Song 4 |
Alarm calls |
In its native Northern Hemisphere range, the first-year male common blackbird of the nominate race may start singing as early as late January in fine weather in order to establish a territory, followed in late March by the adult male. The male's song is a varied and melodious low-pitched fluted warble, given from trees, rooftops or other elevated perches mainly in the period from March to June, sometimes into the beginning of July. It has a number of other calls, including an aggressive seee, a pook-pook-pook alarm for terrestrial predators like cats, and various chink and chook, chook vocalisations. The territorial male invariably gives chink-chink calls in the evening in an attempt (usually unsuccessful) to deter other blackbirds from roosting in its territory overnight.[24] During the northern winter, blackbirds can be heard quietly singing to themselves, so much so that September and October are the only months in which the song cannot be heard.[37] Like other passerine birds, it has a thin high seee alarm call for threats from birds of prey since the sound is rapidly attenuated in vegetation, making the source difficult to locate.[38]
At least two subspecies, T. m. merula and T. m. nigropileus, will mimic other species of birds, cats, humans or alarms, but this is usually quiet and hard to detect.
Feeding
The common blackbird is
Natural threats
Near human habitation the main predator of the common blackbird is the domestic cat, with newly fledged young especially vulnerable.
This species is occasionally a host of
As with other passerine birds, parasites are common.
Common blackbirds spend much of their time looking for food on the ground where they can become infested with ticks, which are external parasites that most commonly attach to the head of a blackbird.[48] In France, 74% of rural blackbirds were found to be infested with Ixodes ticks, whereas, only 2% of blackbirds living in urban habitats were infested.[48] This is partly because it is more difficult for ticks to find another host on lawns and gardens in urban areas than in uncultivated rural areas, and partly because ticks are likely to be commoner in rural areas, where a variety of tick hosts, such as foxes, deer and boar, are more numerous.[48] Although ixodid ticks can transmit pathogenic viruses and bacteria, and are known to transmit Borrelia bacteria to birds,[49] there is no evidence that this affects the fitness of blackbirds except when they are exhausted and run down after migration.[48]
The common blackbird is one of a number of species which has unihemispheric slow-wave sleep. One hemisphere of the brain is effectively asleep, while a low-voltage EEG, characteristic of wakefulness, is present in the other. The benefit of this is that the bird can rest in areas of high predation or during long migratory flights, but still retain a degree of alertness.[50]
Status and conservation
The common blackbird has an extensive range, estimated at 32.4 million square kilometres (12.5 million square miles), and a large population, including an estimated 79 to 160 million individuals in Europe alone. The species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations), and is therefore evaluated as
The common blackbird was introduced to Australia by a bird dealer visiting Melbourne in early 1857,[52] and its range has expanded from its initial foothold in Melbourne and Adelaide to include all of southeastern Australia, including Tasmania and the Bass Strait islands.[53] The introduced population in Australia is considered a pest because it damages a variety of soft fruits in orchards, parks and gardens, including berries, cherries, stone fruit and grapes.[52] It is thought to spread weeds, such as blackberry, and may compete with native birds for food and nesting sites.[52][54]
The introduced common blackbird is, together with the native
-
Turdus merula cabrerae -MHNT
-
Turdus merula merula -MHNT
-
Turdus merula mauritanicus -MHNT
-
Turdus merula azorensis -MHNT
In popular culture
The common blackbird was seen as a sacred though destructive bird in Classical Greek folklore, and was said to die if it consumed pomegranates.[57] Like many other small birds, it has in the past been trapped in rural areas at its night roosts as an easily available addition to the diet,[58] and in medieval times the practice of placing live birds under a pie crust just before serving may have been the origin of the familiar nursery rhyme:[58]
Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie!
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,
Oh, wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?[59]
The common blackbird's melodious, distinctive song is mentioned in the poem Adlestrop by Edward Thomas;
And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.[60]
In the English Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas", the line commonly sung today as "four calling birds" is believed to have originally been written in the 18th century as "four colly birds", an archaism meaning "black as coal" that was a popular English nickname for the common blackbird.[61]
The common blackbird, unlike many black creatures, is not normally seen as a symbol of bad luck,[58] but R. S. Thomas wrote that there is "a suggestion of dark Places about it",[62] and it symbolised resignation in the 17th century tragic play The Duchess of Malfi;[63] an alternate connotation is vigilance, the bird's clear cry warning of danger.[63]
The common blackbird is the national bird of Sweden,[64] which has a breeding population of 1–2 million pairs,[16] and was featured on a 30 öre Christmas postage stamp in 1970;[65] it has also featured on a number of other stamps issued by European and Asian countries, including a 1966 4d British stamp and a 1998 Irish 30p stamp.[66] This bird—arguably—also gives rise to the Serbian name for Kosovo (and Metohija), which is the possessive adjectival form of Serbian kos ("blackbird") as in Kosovo Polje ("Blackbird Field").[67]
A common blackbird can be heard singing on the Beatles song "Blackbird" as a symbol of the civil rights movement.[68]
References
- . Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ISBN 0-7922-4175-4.
- ISBN 9780876633182.
- ^ Linnaeus, Carolus (1758). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata (in Latin). Holmiae (Laurentii Salvii). p. 170.
- ISBN 2-85036-673-0.
- ^ Dictionary of the Scots Language. University of Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
- ISBN 978-1-78427-169-5.
- ^ ISBN 0-7136-3940-7.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 1933: Bird (sense 2), Blackbird
- ISBN 0-19-214155-4.
- ^ a b Gill, F.; Donsker, D. (20 July 2015). "Thrushes". IOC World Bird List, version 5.3. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
- ISBN 1-86872-857-9
- ^ ISBN 0-7136-4333-1.
- ^ "All About Birds: Bronzed Cowbird". Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2003. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
- ^ "All About Birds: Great-tailed Grackle". Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2003. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
- ^ ISBN 0-19-854099-X. p1215–1218
- ^ ISBN 84-87334-72-5
- ISBN 84-87334-72-5
- ^ ISBN 0-691-05054-6
- ISBN 87-88757-16-1
- PMID 17536705.
- ^ Eggeling W. J. (1960) The Isle of May: a Scottish nature reserve. Oliver and Boyd. p. 108.
- ^ Snow D. (1958) A Study of Blackbirds. George Allen & Unwin. p. 173.
- ^ ISBN 0-565-01021-2.
- ^ ISBN 0-7232-0060-2.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2735-3.
- JSTOR 4083850.
- ^ "The A.O.U. Check-list of North American Birds". Check-list of North American Birds (Seventh ed.). AOU. Archived from the original on December 11, 2007. Retrieved 14 December 2007.
- S2CID 51833485. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- .
- .
- ^ a b "Blackbird – Turdus merula". The Royal Horticultural Society/The Wildlife Trusts. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
- ^ "Blackbird Turdus merula [Linnaeus, 1758]". BTOWeb BirdFacts. British Trust for Ornithology. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
- ^ "89% of Blackbird nest failures are attributed to predators". Game and Wildfowl Conservation Trust. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
- ^ "British garden birds – lifespan". garden-birds.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2007-04-24. Retrieved 7 April 2007.
- ^ "European Longevity Records". euring.org. Retrieved 15 December 2007.
- ^ "Blackbird". British Garden Birds. Archived from the original on 2016-01-09. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
- ISBN 0-246-12440-7.
- ^ "We watched a blackbird kill and then fly away with a shrew. Is this unusual?". The RSPB. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
- ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
- ^ a b "Threats". Blackbird. Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Retrieved 19 December 2007.
- ^ "Blackbird Action Plan" (PDF). Lambeth Council's Parks and Greenspaces Business Unit. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2007. Retrieved 11 December 2007.
- JSTOR 4995.
- .
- ISSN 0908-8857. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2012-01-13. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
- ^ Misof, Katharina (2005). Eurasian Blackbirds (Turdus merula) and their gastrointestinal parasites: A role for parasites in life-history decisions? (PDF). Doctoral dissertation, Bonn. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-19.
- .
- ^ doi:10.1046/j.1474-919X.2002.00102.x. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2008-12-17.
- PMID 16530003.
- S2CID 7592942.
- .
- ^
- ^ "Common Blackbird". Birds in Backyards. Australian Museum. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
- ^ "Blackbird". Department of Agriculture, Western Australia. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- ISBN 0-00-216928-2
- ^ Williams, Peter A (2006). "The role of blackbirds (Turdus merula) in weed invasion in New Zealand" (PDF). New Zealand Journal of Ecology. 30 (2): 285–291.
- ISBN 1-85538-118-4.
- ^ ISBN 0-7011-6907-9.
- ISBN 0-19-869111-4.
- ^ "Adlestrop". Poets' Graves. Retrieved 7 December 2007.
- ^ "Birds of the Twelve Days of Christmas". 10,000 Birds. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ "A Blackbird Singing". Poemhunter. Retrieved 7 December 2007.
- ^ ISBN 0-7204-8021-3.
- ^ "Background – Sweden". Nationmaster. Retrieved 12 December 2007.
- ^ "Bird stamps from Sweden". Theme Birds on Stamps. Kjell Scharning. Retrieved 13 December 2007.
- ^ "218 Thrushes Turdidae". Theme Birds on Stamps. Kjell Scharning. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ISBN 978-0-19-533343-5.
- ^ "Blackbird". Rolling Stone.
Further reading
- ISBN 0-85263-854-X
- Snow, David W. (1958). "The breeding of the Blackbird Turdus merula at Oxford". Ibis. 100 (1): 1–30. .
External links
Species information
- BBC Science & Nature – Blackbird, with song clip (archive)
- Madeira Birdwatching – Information on subspecies cabrerae
- RSPB – Blackbird, including video and sound clips
- iberCaja Classroom Network – Blackbird ageing and sexing (archived PDF; 5.3 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
- Ornithos – Feathers of common blackbird (Turdus merula) Archived 2020-07-31 at the Wayback Machine
Sounds and videos
- Audio recordings of Blackbird on Xeno-canto.
- Blackbird videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection
- Other blackbird songs on Sonatura Archived 2017-06-22 at the Wayback Machine
Images
- ARKive – Blackbird still images (archive)