Common Blackbird: Diet

  • Spring and summer: earthworms, slugs and snails, insects, larvae.
  • Autumn and winter: berries (rowan, hawthorn, apple), seeds and windfall fruit.

The Blackbird forages mostly on the ground — it hops across lawns, cocks its head to one side to locate earthworms, and rummages noisily in leaves and litter for insects. In autumn it switches to a diet of fruit and berries, and can then gather in larger numbers at rowans and in orchards. This also makes the Blackbird an important disperser of berry seeds in Sweden.

More about the Common Blackbird

  • Song & calls
  • Breeding
  • Nest & eggs
  • Nest boxes
  • In winter
  • Male & female
  • Migration
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