The Blackbird is a songbird belongs to Thrushes family and is one of the most common in Bulgaria.
Very shy bird that most often hiding in the bushes, and therefore not easy to photograph, something typical of Thrushes.
Body length is from 23.5 to 29 cm in weight 80-125 grams. The adult male has glossy black plumage, black-brown legs, yellow ring eye and yellow beak. Beak darkens somewhat in the winter. Adult female is brownish color, tan beak, brown-white cuddle and weak mottling on the chest. Juveniles is similar to the female, but pale spots cover the upper parts. The youngest also had mottled breasts. Young birds vary in shades of brown. During its first year the young male has a dark beak and paler eye circle.
Foods with grains and fruits - wheat, barley, rye, cherries, damsons, plums, grapes.
The blackbird is monogamous type and a couple usually stays together for life of one of the partners. Reproduction starts in March. The female builds a cup-shaped nest of twigs, moss, hay and leaves, plastered inside with mud. It lays 3-5 (usually 4) bluish-green eggs, speckled with reddish-brown spots more pronounced from the wide end, measuring 2,9 x 2,1 cm. The female incubates 12-14 days. Both parents feed them for about two weeks, then they can leave the nest. Parents continue to eat small to three weeks after leaving the nest. Often the female incubates 2 times per season, using the same nest.
The average life expectancy of the blackbird is 2,4 years.
