It's probably safe to say that Blackbirds are everywhere in the UK, you may not see them all the time but, they are generally not far away. We get a good number visiting the garden and feeders then they disappear while they go about pairing up, nesting and raising young and they start re-appearing looking for food. They are of course well known for their song, dawn and dusk chorus or after rain and are beautiful songsters that can be heard from a long way. The females are actually dark brown and often the Thrush-like breast markings get people confusing them, they are part of the Thrush family!
Male Blackbird
Female Blackbird
In my opinion they are great photo subjects, that eye ring and bright beak really stand out and catch them in sunlight, even better.
As you can see though, I'm prone to catching them in pouring rain! We get quite a few young birds in the garden as well and they can look a bit of a state, add to that the fact that the males take a while to reach full black colour.
All my shots so far have been taken in the garden where I can get up close very easily but they can also be quite steady when you see them out in the wild.
Hunger overrides fear of me and my camera! I have a feeding post in a mixed wood up the lane and they drop onto that regularly.
See what I mean about catching the light?
You can tell that's a younger bird because the beak still has darker patches
I really love catching them in good light, many bird photographers miss out on the common birds.
My final set of shots (for now) are a few that I really liked.
That female in the last shot, I almost didn't see until she moved a little.
