It is around this time of year, from mid February onwards that the song of the Blackbird changes slightly from it’s daily proclamation of territory, to a full blown aria of “Here I am, come and mate with me!”
The song of the Blackbird on a warm February day, just as the sun begins to go down and the temperature drops, is probably the most sublime and transcendent sound in all of Nature, it is so unsurpassable in its exquisite beauty, it stops you in your tracks, it brings you to your knees, it burns through all the armouring and goes straight to the heart.
There is also something so dramatic and utterly compelling about the juxtaposition of the melodic and flute-like positivity of the song, with the emergence from the tired, darkness of Winter. The Blackbird seems to proclaim that we are nearly entering the light and warmth again. The song is also arrhythmic, and uses key changes, which cut through the mental filters of background noises in our lives, interferes with our drab, and routine mutterings.
As well as the daily hunt for worms, Blackbirds are actually fairly omnivorous, and their favourite dose of Vitamin C at this time of year comes from Ivy Berries.
Blackbirds have been with me since I could walk (maybe before) as I played in the grounds of the estate where we lived in Surrey. My Father; a traumatized WW2 Latvian refugee and ‘Displaced Person’ loved the Blackbirds too – he would often refer to them as Mr. and Mrs. Blackie. I wonder whether the sight and sound of the 2 parents busily nest building and later feeding their young formed part of what made him feel secure, and gave an anchor or sense of comfort to the passing of the seasons. Maybe he had heard or seen Blackbirds in the lands surrounding his Fathers Boatyard in Latvia, I will never know.
There is something reassuring about their song, it is both wild and familiar, it is a calling to express our own wild, exuberant and joyful sexual desires and expansive creativity, whilst simultaneously tapping into some primal nostalgia of our arboreal ancestry. Is it also the bird world equivalent of a young lad with a pimped up car, revving loudly outside the night club?
Here is a recording of the Blackbird singing below – gosh my heart is just being pulled open and somehow that resonance is like an aural massage. Just close your eyes and let it in.
https://youtu.be/EB1lgjg9e4Y