Cuties!

I went to see some friends yesterday. They live near work and have a garden, so they call me for a barbie now and again.

They're both keen gardeners and attract a lot of local wildlife on the look out for food. Recently they've had everything from fox cubs to squirrels and the neighbour's cat roaming their garden, but what they really love is a blackbird nest they spotted hidden in the vines. There's mother and father blackbirds and 4 chicks. The parents take turns in watching the nest while the other one goes looking for worms, but occasionally if all is quiet they both fly off hunting for food.
And that's what they did yesterday evening, so I jumped at the chance to take a couple of photos.





Evidently I lingered too long, trying to sneak between the vines, as mother blackbird found me there when she got back. She stopped on a nearby tree with worms squiggling in her beak, keeping en eye on me to make sure I wasn't doing anything nasty. My friends had another blackbird family a couple of years ago and told me that when a chick fell off the nest and they went to pick it up to put it back, the parents dived on them like a scene from The Birds!
She also chirped at them to let them know she was nearby, and they peaped back, maybe telling her to hurry up as they were hungry.

I stepped back down the ladder and feigned indifference and finally mother blackbird rejoined the nest and fed her brood to a chorus of thanks. I had to move slowly in order not to scare her away but eventually I managed to get close enough again to take another few shots while she was keeping watch!