Should we bring a recovered blackbird home or leave for soft release

[fluffedup]

Is anyone out there an expect on blackbird behaviour?

We took a blackbird with a badly infected eye to the local wildlife hospital.
Normally we can't have birds back because they have so many of them they can't keep track. But this time they said he will be the only blackbird, so if we want we can collect him when he is better. If I don't collect him they will do a soft release, put him in an aviary, then just leave the door open so he can leave when he wants.
My dilemma is - there are no cats where the wildlife hospital is, whereas in our garden there are cats, including Bengals which are prolific hunters, and I can do nothing about that. Does anyone know how attached blackbirds are to their friends and family? Given the choice, would he choose to come home with his family or would he prefer to stay in the cat-free location?

Advice is that an injured adult blackbird should be released back in its original territory whenever possible, Apparently they often stay in the same ‘patch’ for their lifetime and can also remain with the same mate. If it were me, I’d be inclined to release it back where it came from and let it take its chances. Well done for getting it treated, btw, and hope the eventual release goes well, whatever you decide!

Thank you! I will phone the wildlife hospital and let them know. He is lovely - he came and stood by our window when he became ill, but would not let me catch him. The following evening he sat by the back door and let me catch him. A night in a warm quiet place with plenty of food and water seemed to do him good, and when we dropped him off at the hospital the next morning, as the nurse was taking him away, he turned to me and sang a bit of blackbird song - not the alarm call, but the song, so I hope he is not too upset by the the whole hospital experience.

Well done on a successful rescue!

Can you speak to the cat owners about collars with bells? And keeping them in overnight? They may simply never have thought about it before.

Oh, that’s so lovely! I hope that he survives to have a long and happy life. I can understand you being wary of bringing him back to a area full of predators, but from all the info available, it seems they do get very attached to their ‘patch’ and releasing them somewhere else can create its own problems, such as them having to try and establish themselves in a new area with incumbent blackbirds!

I used to do the annual 'blackbirds in gardens' weekly survey- till they stopped it this year! I too thought they were territorial and stayed in the same area, often for years. We certainly had a female who would follow me around the garden when I was digging and would gladly eat up worms I'd throw her. They bring her babies to our back patio. I'm sure it would be happier 'at home'. 🤗

I have got bad news - I phoned the wildlife hospital and unfortunately he died a couple of days after we took him in. They said he also had a lot of ticks and they think he was suffering from old age. It is sad because he seemed to be getting better, he was eating and pooing loads when we took him in and was alert and looking around.

I don't know the owners of most of the cats, but I do know who owns one of the bengals and I did speak to him, on behalf of the wild animals and also on behalf of my own pet rats as the cat kept trying to get in the house to get at them, meaning that in hot weather we had to either cage them or keep the windows and doors closed.

It was very depressing as he clearly did not care.

I have spend hundreds of pounds on those cat scaring sound machine things, they help a bit but not much. I also chase the cats away but I can't always be there. I have yet to try Silent Roar (lion shit), also someone on here said male human urine can help, so I may ask DH for his help!

I had a female blackbird like that too, imaginatively named 'Bird'. She would bring two babies to see me - they were speckled like thrushes and they chirped at me to give them mealworms. She would feed them and also a young male blackbird - I think he was her son rather than a cocklodger. She would hang around when I was gardening and eat the bugs and slugs that were exposed by my activities. She would occasionally disappear but come back, then finally she didn't come back. It's sad like that when you befriend wild animals, they have very precarious lives.

So sorry to hear this, op. You did your best for him. Don’t worry that the hospital experience might have upset him - if he’d been left in the wild with any infirmity, he wouldn’t have lasted long, either, I’m afraid, so you absolutely did the right thing.

Oh no, I'm sorry to hear about the blackbird

I mentioned up thread about the black bird watch I used to do before it stopped. This year I've been doing the Garden birdwatch- linked below in case you are interested. I've also installed a bird app on my phone which can tell me the calls of various birds. I WFH and in the warmer weather have the doors open so can hear/see lots of birds in the garden.
https://www.bto.org/get-involved/volunteer/projects/gbw

So sorry OP, about your bird and the attitude of the bengal owner! Most animal lovers care about wildlife too.

Just to mention, the cat scarers may also be having an impact on your local wildlife too, so just be aware of that. Lots of lovely thick vegetation is good protection for birds, so make sure there is plenty of that on offer in your garden.

Thanks @5289843DM @kinkytoes @maudelovesharold

Kinkytoes the cat scarers are the RSPB-approved ones that are supposed to be heard by cats only. They do make some difference. It may be that things would be far worse if they weren't there. I do keep plenty of cover in the garden after seeing two poor young wood pigeons killed in the year when I finally got on top of it and the garden was immaculate.