John Coldebella confesses to a love/hate relationship with the birds that share his garden. Photos by Pauline Wilkinson
By John Coldebella
MOST gardeners are familiar with blackbirds, especially at this time of year when thoughts turn to the netting of fruit trees and berry bushes. In between eating crops, they keep busy digging up seedlings or burying them as they forage for worms and insects. In recent years their impact on fruit such as apples and pears has been dwarfed by the industrial scale damage caused by the flocks of parrots and their relatives that have discovered our region. Even so, the blackbird is still capable of inducing a summer of expletives.
Having said that, they also exude a certain charm. To me, their song, particularly in the evening is entertaining and comforting. I also find the young ones to be very cute. Just after leaving the nest, with their feathers still growing, almost looking like they've been to the barber for a trim around the collar, and only able to awkwardly fly short distances, they are naive, innocent, curious and impressionable.
MOST gardeners are familiar with blackbirds, especially at this time of year when thoughts turn to the netting of fruit trees and berry bushes. In between eating crops, they keep busy digging up seedlings or burying them as they forage for worms and insects. In recent years their impact on fruit such as apples and pears has been dwarfed by the industrial scale damage caused by the flocks of parrots and their relatives that have discovered our region. Even so, the blackbird is still capable of inducing a summer of expletives.
Having said that, they also exude a certain charm. To me, their song, particularly in the evening is entertaining and comforting. I also find the young ones to be very cute. Just after leaving the nest, with their feathers still growing, almost looking like they've been to the barber for a trim around the collar, and only able to awkwardly fly short distances, they are naive, innocent, curious and impressionable.
