Blackbirds...

...flying into the nest with food...one two three four different blackbirds into the same nest one after the other.

What are they feeding? A black hole?

Mr and Mrs Blackbird have already raised one brood but the young female ones never left my garden. Mr and Mrs appear to be on brood number 2. So I sat on the swing this morning and watched to see how many blackbirds were coming in with food. There was Mr and Mrs Blackbird. Then there were at least two young female blackbirds ( one always has a feather slightly askew on her back). So I could tell there was at least two young females. So why are 4 blackbirds feeding one nest of babies? And are the two young females from the first brood. They do look very young and they are working very hard.

Have Mr and Mrs Blackbird told their young girls they have to learn to do some training in child care before they leave home?

Or is there something more sinister lurking in that blackbirds nest? Is that the bottomless black hole where all my poor wee frogs ended up?

I skyped my daughter in Australia on my iPad and stuck it next to the nest and asked her what she could hear (I can't hear them because I am deaf). My daughter said she could hear cheaping...how many I asked...she said she could definitely hear two baby birds. But that doesn't explain why there are four very harassed hard working blackbirds feeding the same nest. They are feeding the nest at first light at four am and are still feeding the nest as the light fades at ten pm. Which is far longer period than Mr and Mrs Blackbird fed their first brood.

This is the best picture I could get with my phone camera of one of the two young females coming into the nest with worms in her mouth.