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AIBU

Blackbird

(145 Posts)
Oopsminty Sun 10-May-20 22:27:06

*Oopsminty to say I am impressed is an understatement!
Robins eating from your hand.....are you a direct descendant of St Francis of Assisi by any chance? Or Dr Doolittle.*

Ha! Not quite smile

It's quite common to get a friendly robin. If you have one in your garden, just stand there with meal worms and grated mild cheese on your open hand and wait.

We have a large bush that is home/resting place to numerous birds and they now pop out as soon as I arrive!

Callistemon Sun 10-May-20 22:26:56

I could never hurt one and if they sit on my lap I can tolerate them. Just.

EllanVannin Sun 10-May-20 22:22:36

My late H would have been waiting with a catapult, he didn't like cats.

Callistemon Sun 10-May-20 22:13:30

I only ever met one cat I really liked, he was a Grandcat but sadly met his fate on a main road.
sad

mrswoo Sun 10-May-20 21:38:48

Since lockdown I have spent a lot of time watching blackbirds in my garden. Without a doubt they are my favourite birds and it would upset me terribly if a cat attacked one of them.

We have an uninvited cat that visits us most days and I fear for all the garden birds when he’s around.

lemongrove Sun 10-May-20 21:36:54

Oopsminty to say I am impressed is an understatement!
Robins eating from your hand.....are you a direct descendant of St Francis of Assisi by any chance? Or Dr Doolittle.

Oopsminty Sun 10-May-20 21:34:41

I would be devastated, Namsnanny,

We have lots of birds in our garden. I've been feeding them for years and a couple of the robins will now feed from my hand.

I really dislike cats

And I dislike the owners more who don't put bells on the collars

lemongrove Sun 10-May-20 21:28:44

Yes, rooks and magpies and jackdaws are dangers to eggs and fledglings here, sadly, but again, the natural world.

lemongrove Sun 10-May-20 21:27:06

Yes, it’s a great shame, but the hunting instinct is just there, the same as for any predator that enjoys meat eating.

Callistemon the point to cats is that they purr into your ear, and are light enough to sit on your lap when you want to make a fuss of them.Unlike most Labradors?

Alexa Sun 10-May-20 21:24:11

PS my lurcher keeps cats out of my garden but I hear the blackbirds in the thickets that surround my garden fence.

Alexa Sun 10-May-20 21:22:05

It upsets me when I hear the blackbirds' anguished cries when their fledglings are at risk from prowling cats.

MrsEggy Sun 10-May-20 20:54:45

A blackbird nested in our cotoneaster bush last year and hatched some eggs, but they were discovered and predated by a magpie. Cats are not the only villians prowling our gardens!

Millie22 Sun 10-May-20 20:50:48

I'm sending you a hug as I understand how upsetting it is to see a cat get a bird. I feed blackbirds every day and they wait for me to put the food out. Cats are a real nuisance but also sometimes larger birds can target baby birds.

NfkDumpling Sun 10-May-20 20:33:13

They are the biggest predator of birds. Luckily our neighbour spoils theirs so much she’s too fat to jump the fence any more!

We did have a visiting ginger tom but we have a sensor device which fixes on the end of the hose and squirts anything which walks through it. We’d move the hose around and hide the end in the flower beds. It did get the occasional pigeon which walked too close as well, but they’re too thick to be deterred. Its seems to have worked on the cats though. Nothing has come in the garden for months.

Callistemon Sun 10-May-20 20:27:20

Ps what is the point of cats?

I like dogs but cats??

Callistemon Sun 10-May-20 20:26:26

I'd want to strangle the cat.

They kill millions of lovely birds each year.

ginny Sun 10-May-20 20:23:45

Oh yes they will . At least several around here will.

Hetty58 Sun 10-May-20 19:58:19

A lot of cats won't tolerate wearing a collar, unfortunately. It's a shame, but sometimes they do kill birds.

Mine never has, she just brings live mice indoors, totally unharmed. I have to catch them and release them outside.

It's not impossible to keep them out. If you put XXX shaped trellis on the tops of fences, they won't try jumping up on them.

ginny Sun 10-May-20 19:50:57

Oh, what a shame. We have bluetits in a nesting box that we have been spending hours watching going to and fro, so can understand.

Namsnanny Sun 10-May-20 19:43:50

AIBU …. to be distraught as I watched next doors cat catch and kill my lovely blackbird (sad)

I know that's what cats do, that's why I try to keep them out, but it's impossible.

I love the garden birds.
I've been so enchanted watching the blackbird build it's nest in our Pyracantha bush. Nice and prickly, a good choice I thought as it might keep out predators.
He/she was becoming like family member to me.

I kept away from the bush and watched from a distance, so as not to frighten it off.
I have a garden mirror which he had problems with, as he saw his reflection and kept leaping up to it, thinking he was protecting his territory from an interloper.
It was funny, the first time I saw him do this, nothing made him give up!
So I covered it, so as to allow him some peace.

I haven't stopped crying since, silly me.
I suppose lockdown is getting to me.

Cat lovers please at least put a bell on your beloved.