Maneuverability.

A common pub quiz question is, “What is the only British bird that can hover?” It’s always annoyed me. I know that the answer they want is the kestrel but, it is highly debateable whether or not it can, and much depends on the strict definition of the word. A few people say that they have seen kestrels hovering in still air while most of the rest say that they only hover facing into the wind, that is, they are flying into the wind to stay still. One thing that is clear is that it is not economical for a bird the size of a kestrel to hover in still air; since economics lies at the heart of evolution, it is unlikely that one would voluntarily do so for more than a few moments.
 
On the other hand, watch small birds squabbling at a bird feeder, gold finches are ideal examples, and you will see them going up, down, sideways, backwards and forwards. They are obviously physically capable of hovering but don’t do so (other than instantaneously) as they never actually stop.
 
Now take this female blackbird, I think we only have the one that does this, she loves peanut butter but has nowhere to perch to use the feeder. She starts from the ground, picks her spot, and goes for it. If you get a good view of a kestrel “hovering,” you will see that its whole body moves but, its head stays absolutely motionless. So with this blackbird; with the benefit of being able to look at this image at full resolution, I can see that the only part of the bird that is really sharp is its head. As with the kestrel, it is finely controlling the position of its head in a turbulent environment. Without having a video, I assume that it is not stabbing at the food, but delicately picking at it; I feel a project coming on.
 
Of particular interest to me is that you can see that she is using her bastard wing on the right side (the equivalent of our thumb and the wing slot on an aircraft), a device used to reduce the stall speed for better control at low flying speeds.