Swinging Blackbird

Another bird blip today and an image that has escaped me for many months. Blackbirds don't usually manage to eat from the fatball feeder. At least the ones visiting my garden have sometimes made an attempt at hanging on and pecking, but never achieve this. However, I've watched this blackie make flying attacks at the food and knocking bits off. Then it began to hang on for a few seconds. Today it got a really good grip.

Initially it was the sight of a magpie feeding that had sent me hurtling through the house to the camcorder set up in the spare room opposite the feeders. However, magpies are extremely sensitive to movement and I'd only got a few paces into the room and off it flew. However I switched on the camera and into view came the blackie. I was able to fire off a few shots in quick succession before it gave me this long look and scarpered! I liked this last shot as the bird seemed to be saying - "I hope you got that, cos I'm off!"

The rain was just starting. You may be able to see the streaks as the camcorder sets the shutter speed for still photos automatically - 1/75th in this light. I used Photoshop to remove the rain streaks on the blackbird as I think these marred its lovely black plumage, and I used the Angled Brush Strokes filter to improve definition, with the intervening window and rain detracting from the clarity I was after.