Predation by Blackbirds

General birdwatching discussion, help with bird identification, and all other things relating to wild birds and birding in NZ that don't fit in one of the other forums.
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Weka1
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Predation by Blackbirds

Postby Weka1 » Fri May 31, 2019 7:19 am

The latest Predator Free NZ post has an article on Predation on Fantail nests.
See below (the address seems rather long).
https://predatorfreenz.org/nesting-fant ... ad121ce78f

The comment is made
“Three avian predation events were recorded: two by the introduced blackbird and one by the native owl.”

The 'native owl', curious name, was no surprise - but blackbirds?
Has anyone heard of blackbird predation on nests?
Blackbirds are spread deep into the NZ bush, and offshore islands.
Are we missing a trick here, or is the blackbird predation of nests of NZ endemics recorded here an anomaly?
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Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: Predation by Blackbirds

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Sun Jun 02, 2019 8:40 am

From memory that paper was in an overseas journal, hence the description of the owl being native. As for blackbirds, I don't think we should be too surprised that an omnivorous bird takes some eggs of others, but if it was widespread in native forests (as blackbirds are) you'd think it would be reported more. Also, blackbirds tend to decline when native birds are released from mammalian predation, so that might reduce the b'bird threat further.
I think the real underappreciated threat from b'birds is, I think, predation on native invertebrates.

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