Great Knowley sightings

[Leonard Poxon]

Pipistrelle bat seen last night circling the house.

6 continental Blackbirds (all male with black beaks) in a hawthorn tree on the former quarry edge today.

[andy leach]

sorry to disappoint you len but the blackbirds you saw were young birds of this year, and could have come from just up the road from you, they will start to aquire their yellow bills though December into January, the only distinct sub species of turdus is turdus [merula] atterrimus [Balkans, Ukraine, Caucasus] it differs from nominate race by male being slightly duller black in plumage and female being somewhat greyer not brown. there are also further races in n. Africa, canaries, near east, and central asia differing only slightly from nominate race. hope this helps clear up the blackbilled TURDUS.

[Leonard Poxon]

Thanks for your response Andy, they could indeed be local birds.

I wasn't inferring that there is a Continental subspecies with black beaks, but that there is an influx of continental Blackbirds at this time of year and a proportion of them will be juvenile males. There is also a theory (myth, perhaps) that the young Scandinavian Blackbird's beaks turn yellow much later than the UK ones (some not until they return to Scandinavia in the spring).

[andy leach]

Pipistrelle bat seen last night circling the house.

6 continental Blackbirds (all male with black beaks) in a hawthorn tree on the former quarry edge today.

my previous post came about because there appears to be a misconception within sections of cnhs that blackbilled [turdus merula] blackbirds. are automatically continental birds NOT so they are more likely to be locally bred birds being young of that year. the only way to distinguish continental blackbirds especially finno scandi birds is in the hand measuring wing length. these birds have longer wings than our resident bird. most male get their yellow bills gradually during December and January. all though studys have shown that some finno scandi birds can surpress the yellowing till they are on the return to their breeding grounds.