blackbird bully

[cecil39]

I saw something funny today, a woody was busy eating some food I had put out when a blackbird ran up behind it and tweeked its tail feathers, this happened several times, the woody just turned and looked at its attacker and carried on eating, not flying off till it was good and ready, has anyone else seen this happen, and what was it all about?

[seadogg]

Blackbirds are quite territorial and will eat many kinds of food, so he was doing what came naturally.

[wildwood]

Not sure that they are territorial this time of the year, but it has obviously learned that worrying bigger birds some times works to scare them off, maybe not this time but it must work most of the time.
Our resident blackbird is very aggressive when they have babies. The cock will even divebomb a cat, funny enough, the cats don't like it and take off.

[Flyhalf]

Ours once chased and killed a tit which had made the mistake of getting too close to the nestlings. Mr & Mrs B zoomed along either side of the offender, before Mr B hit him.
Unlike in cartoons, it plunged straight down.

[Robinia]

The birds are very entertaining cecil...your blackbird obviously didn't like sharing his dinner. I have at least five blackbirds in my garden every day and they're quite aggresive towards each other but they seem to tolerate other birds, big or small. I think they're trying to establish a good feeding territory for the winter.
We did have a sparrow who used to pluck the feathers from the rear end of pigeons at nesting time...that was hilarious.

[cecil39]

its better than tv, and you don't need a licence, 'our' woody has been round for years so maybe thats why he refused to go, but I had never seen him chased by a blackbird before, by the way I know its 'our' woody as he has a deformed leg, does'nt bother him though.