Weaning

My turn for breakfast in bed today, a holiday/weekend luxury and so I read a couple of chapters of 'Yellow Birds' over my porridge. It's a harrowing read. One of those books you feel you need to read in order to know and hopefully understand...in this case the experiences of soldiers at war in Iraq, a novel but based in truth.

When I finally rose to check out the heavy shower that had swooped in, I spotted this male blackbird appearing to be weaning its juvenile. The juvenile was picking up the seed from beneath the feeders then chirping at its parent to be fed. Later a second juvenile appeared and the parent was caught between feeding them and itself. It kept moving away for a while and then would return. It looks quite thin compared to its offspring. I couldn't get a sharp blip of the feeding but there are more of the blackbirds here.