European Blackbird

European Blackbird, common name for a widespread Asian and European songbird. It is not related to North American blackbirds but is rather a thrush, closely related to the American robin. The European blackbird’s preferred habitats are forests, hedges, orchards, and gardens; however, it has become accustomed to life in large cities. It is native to Great Britain, Europe, northwest Africa, and western Asia, and has been introduced to Australia and New Zealand.

The European blackbird is about 24 to 26 cm (about 9.5 to 10.0 in) long, with glossy black feathers and a bright orange-yellow bill. Females and juvenile birds in their first year are brownish. The male’s song is a loud, flutelike warbling. Both sexes give a rattling alarm call.

The diet of the European blackbird includes wild and cultivated fruits, earthworms, and insects. It may also hunt for small marine creatures along the shoreline. It forages mainly on the ground but will feed on ripe fruit high in trees.

European blackbirds nest in trees, shrubs, and hedges, from 1 to 10 m (3 to 33 ft) above the ground. They will also nest in woodpiles and sheds, on rock ledges, and on ledges of city buildings. The female builds a cuplike nest from twigs, moss, roots, and grasses stuck together with mud and lined with leaves and dry grass. In cities she may use paper and plastic in her nest. The female lays three to four bluish-green or greenish-brown eggs, blotched with reddish-brown. She incubates, or warms, the eggs by sitting on them for 13 to 14 days until they hatch. Both parents feed the young, which are ready to leave the nest, or fledge, about 14 days after hatching. European blackbirds raise at least two batches, or broods, of young each year.

Scientific classification: The European blackbird is a member of the family Muscicapidae, in the order Passeriformes, and is classified as Turdus merula, meaning “thrush blackbird.”