Blackbirds – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
I was twelve years old when I started my nature notebooks. Despite my awful handwriting I noted down all the features which would help me identify Blackbirds when I saw them:
![Blackbird - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Blackbird-The-Hall-of-Einar-photograph-c-2016-David-Bailey-not-the.jpg)
The male is a large pitch-black bird with a bright yellow bill and the female is a uniform brown colour, while the juvenile is light brown and spotted. How economical I was with words back then.
![Blackbird - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/810_8171.jpg)
![Blackbird - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/810_8026.jpg)
I still am.