|
Usually, at this time of year, Common Blackbirds are common
in our Holt yard. In evergreen shrubs, along one 30-metre boundary, we
usually found two, and sometimes three nests. This spring, nary a one. And
blackbird song has become a rarity. It used to be one of the sounds synonymous
with spring together with the chimes of Mr Whippy's ice-cream van. But the
latter has disappeared too. I dunno what's happening. My
frequently-visiting little nieces and I miss Mr Whippy's snow-cones.
The only blackbird's nest we've found in the local precinct this season
was on 31 August which contained a sitting female. According to Philip
Veerman, although an early record, it was still within the known time span for
local breeding.
I guess one doesn't have to be a rocket scientist, or a blackbird
boffin, to conclude that the present prolonged lack of precipitation does not
augur well for worm-augering blackbirds.
At the ANBG last week I had eight sightings of blackbirds. Again, probably
stating the obvious, ANBG's watered, grassy areas and expanses of moist earth
beneath mulch and sheltering shrubbery, provide a bonanza for the
four-and-twenty birds' foraging needs. But why would global warming thwart
the delivery of Mr Whippy's snow-cones?
John Layton
| 