The male blackbird's distinctive song during the breeding season is loud and melodious with a flute-like quality. Males often sing from high perches. Both sexes produce a variety of other calls and can also mimic native birds. The birds spend much of their time on the ground, walking or swiftly bounding with occasional flickering of the wings. Frequent pauses are made with the head tilted to one side as if listening.
Blackbirds often forage in the open, but as they are timid, cover is usually close by.
When they forage in leaf litter under trees and bushes, they can sound like a person walking through the bush. The blackbird's short flights are low and undulating, but fast and direct over open country. The tail is raised and fanned and the wings are drooped on landing. Normally blackbirds are seen in ones or twos and both sexes are strongly territorial. They are also found in small groups when the young have just left the nest and are still being fed by the parents.