A brown Blackbird and a Marsh Tit not in a marsh

There’s a brown Blackbird at Stover Country Park. It’s cold and it’s intent on eating some seed which someone has left on the handrail. I really must get a guide to plumage in Blackbirds. I can recognise the males fine, after all, they are black. It’s the difference between juveniles and females which I’m not sure of.

Anyway, here’s a brown Blackbird:

Blackbird - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Looking closer and the stiff rictal bristles which surround its gape are wonderful. So is the glorious yellow eye ring:

Blackbird - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

As it turns, one of its cousins arrives. It’s a Marsh Tit. Marsh Tits don’t live in marshes.

Blackbird - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

What is it with names that mean people have to keep explaining them because they simply don’t fit? It’s just as true of our human world.

Over forty years ago I wrote all about Blackbirds in my childhood nature notebooks:

Blackbird - The Hall of Einar - (c) David Bailey (not the)

I still love seeing them as much.

Feel free to leave a Reply :)