Hi everyone, it's Liam here from a short wildlife and in this video I'm going to tell you everything you need to know about the Blackbird. The Blackbird is the fourth most common garden bird in the UK and is also a familiar sight around parks and woodlands across the country. Despite their name only the males are truly black, females are dark brown and the young birds have a more mottled brown colouring. Males also have a bright orange or yellow beak and eye ring. These are much duller in the females and completely absent in the young birds. They have a wingspan of 35 to 38 centimeters and grow to around the hundred grams in weight. They often move around by hopping rather than running and sometimes have their wings dropped and their tails raised as they do so. Blackbirds are omnivores and will adjust their diet in line with the seasons. During the spring and summer they feed almost exclusively on worms and other invertebrates but during the Ottoman winter they switch to eat in mostly berries and fruits. They have a habit of wiping any insects that they manage to catch on the ground or through the grass to clean off any dirt before they eat them. Pears of Blackbirds hold territories throughout the year but during the colder months they allow other birds to enter and pass through without any resistance. However come the spring time their territorial behavior peaks and they become aggressive towards other Blackbirds. It's during this time that the pair begin to nest but this depends completely on the weather. In cold springs nesting can start as late as the end of March or even April but in other years it can begin from early February onwards. Researchers also shown that Blackbirds in towns and cities start nesting earlier than their countryside counterparts although if this is down to the increased artificial light in or higher temperatures isn't completely clear. The female alone creates the nest which is a cup shape structure of twigs leaves another plant material lined with a thin layer of mud and grass. Each clutch consists of three to five speckle blue eggs which the female incubates alone for 13 to 14 days. Once the chicks hatch both the parents feed them and they develop really fast. They usually fledg at around 14 days but can leave the nest and survive from as early as nine days if the nest is disturbed. At the point of fledging the young Blackbirds can't fly and spend several days on the ground whilst they find their wings. This can unfortunately result in a lot of them falling prey to cats or other predators or sometimes being unnecessarily rescued by well-meaning people who assume they are injured or out of the nest too soon. Once the young are fledged the male does most of the feeding and after a further two to three weeks the youngsters move away from their parents territories. Each pair can produce free or sometimes four batches of young in a season and with the final clutch of the year they share out the parental duties a bit more. Blackbirds mate for life and from the outside they appear to be completely monogamous. However this isn't always the case. Science is proven but a lower pair can stay together up to 17% of their eggs are not genetically related to the male with which the female is mated. In the UK there are around five million pairs of Blackbirds and this number swells to 50 million birds in the winter when some migrate here from Scandinavia and Western Europe. Only around one in three Blackbird nests result in fledged young. If the birds survive to this stage they have an average life expectancy of 3.4 years. In extreme circumstances they can live a lot longer than this and the oldest bird on record made it to a whopping 20 years and three months of age. Well there we go hopefully you learned something new about the Blackbird. If you did why not check out this video with everything you need to know about the Magpie and if you enjoy that then subscribe to the channel for future content. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.