Injured Blackbird

[Robinia]

A poor blackbird who has been coming to the windowsill for over 3 years has obviously been attacked by something.  He can run & fly despite missing feathers but his beak is open all the time & is obviously struggling to eat. Does anyone know what may be going on & whether he's likely to recover?
I can't quite get close enough to catch him with a towel but if he weakens it may become possible.

[woofgang]

if you do catch him, the stress is likely to kill him anyway. Best thing to do if you don't think that he needs putting to sleep is to offer food and water and wait

[FP]

Oh Robinia, how sad.    I really don't know the answer, but would think Woofgang is right. I remember my Mother having a blackbird around for ages whose beak was permanently open, but I don't know how he managed to eat.

If he does weaken enough for you to catch him, probably the kindest thing to do is have him put to sleep.  Fortunately for us we have the Norfolk RSPCA wildlife centre very near and they will try to help anything, even the tiniest little mouse.

[Robinia]

Thanks to you both.  It's now 10am & I haven't seen him yet this morning so I'm thinking that he probably didn't make it through the night.  As far as I know he only managed to get a few raisins down yesterday & was drinking from the leaves of plants. 
I shall miss him terribly, following me round & singing in the tree as I do all the work!  Already his rival from next door but one has sneaked in & taken some raisins from his pot on the windowsill.  Life goes on but at the moment my garden is very quiet.

[Dom Tuk]

I thought that birds in the heat of the summer usually have their beaks open all day as a cooling device, just like dogs who will pant with their tongues hanging out of an open mouth. It has been unusually hot in the past few days and perhaps thats what the bird is responding too. In hotter countries of asia and africa, birds often have their beaks open during the day. I may be completely wrong but that is what i believed in all along.

[FP]

I had a pair of nesting woodpigeons in the garden and one got injured last week but recovered and was flying again.  He/she  had become quite tame.  Just noted this afternoon that all that remains is a large pile of feathers where it used to sit and spend its days.  Fox I presume!  Sad now because I don't know if the other pigeon will raise the brood on its own.  :o(

[Robinia]

Dom you're right, birds do open their beaks when it's hot but that definitely wasn't the case here.  I'd already found his feathers & thought he was dead first thing yesterday but he appeared bedraggled & struggling to eat. 
He hasn't been back today & the garden is a sadder, quieter place without him.  Hundreds of birds must have come & gone in the years that I've lived here but he was a special little chap.  Like you FP, with your wood pigeons, I get involved & then we have to go through the misery too.