Cuckoos

[shaneystar2]

HI fellow birdie fans.....I have just spotted a male black bird in my garden chasing round like a mad thing feeding two other birds which are the same size or even slightly bigger than him.These two birds are a brownish colour with a slightly speckled breast .
Surely they aren't young blackbirds ?They are following him all round the bottom of the garden beaks wide open for him to pop food in.They are making a sort of mewling pip pip sound .
Could they be cuckoos?

[burnhal]

I would suspect that they are blackbirds!! You have just described a young blackbird. Not likely to be cuckoos- they only lay one egg per nest- and the cuckoo hatches first and ejects the other eggs- so even if by chance two were laid only one would remain.

[YvonneM]

They're young blackbirds still in juvenile plummage.

[kitty1950]

Hi shaneystar2, They are definitely young blackbirds. I have a leaflet showing male garden birds and it explains what the females and the young look like. Kath.

[WendyS]

No shaneystar, I think you'll find they're blackbirds. The young are very brown with speckled breasts and when begging for food from their parents they often fluff their feathers up and flutter their wings to gain attention. If they had been cuckoos, I suspect you would have found that there would have been two different sets of parents. Baby cuckoos turf all the other eggs out of the nest before they hatch.

[shaneystar2]

Thanks for all your answers ..I am getting dafter by the day....must be the heat !
Have just looked up some pics and they are indeed baby blackbirds ! Perhaps I ought to either clean my binos or at least have them the right way up !
From the angle I was watching they seemed so much bigger than the parent.
Lovely to watch though .

[Robinia]

oh don't feel bad about it shaney - I've made all sorts of crazy mistakes, including rare visitors turning out to be young robins or hedgesparrows, & spent far too long one day observing what turned out to be a leaf!
I've noticed that baby blackbirds do vary slightly in colouring - probably influenced by my patchy instant tan. :o)

[shaneystar2]

Ha Ha Robinia ...I know the feeling ...but...I'll swear I just saw a Dodo alight on my shed roof !!

[Robinia]

hi shaney - just popped by to tell you that my neighbour & I are pretty sure we've heard a cuckoo very early in the morning for the past few days........

.......or have we???! hehe