Melodious blackbird facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Melodious blackbird |
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Dives
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| Species: |
dives
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| Range of D. dives | |
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The melodious blackbird (Dives dives) is a cool tropical bird found in the New World. It's known for its beautiful songs and shiny black feathers.
Contents
What Does the Melodious Blackbird Look Like?
This bird is a medium-sized blackbird with a rounded tail. Adult birds are completely black and have a shiny blue glow, especially in good light. Their beaks, legs, and feet are also black. They have brown eyes.
Size of the Birds
Male melodious blackbirds are about 25.5 cm (10.0 in) long. They weigh around 108 g (3.8 oz). Females are a bit smaller, measuring about 23 cm (9.1 in) long. They weigh about 95 g (3.4 oz). Both male and female birds look very similar. Young birds are brownish-black and don't have the shiny feathers yet.
The Melodious Blackbird's Voice
These birds are famous for their songs! A pair of blackbirds will often sing a duet together. Their song starts with a "see" note, then a "whit," and finishes with a whistle that sounds a bit like a northern cardinal. When they call out, it's a metallic "puitt" sound.
Where Do Melodious Blackbirds Live?
The melodious blackbird lives in many places, from the eastern and southeastern coasts of Mexico all the way to Costa Rica. These birds are "resident breeders," meaning they live and raise their young in the same areas all year round.
Expanding Their Home
The melodious blackbird's home range is actually getting bigger!
- They moved into El Salvador in the 1950s.
- They started living in eastern Guatemala in the 1960s.
- Before 1989, they were rarely seen in Costa Rica. Now, you can easily spot them as far south as San José. Scientists think they might even move into Panama soon!
Where They Like to Hang Out
Melodious blackbirds can live in many different places. They don't like really thick forests or dense bushes. Instead, they have learned to live near people! You can often see them in gardens and on lawns.
They mostly look for insects on the ground to eat. But they also enjoy drinking nectar from flowers and eating ripening maize (corn). They also eat fruits from plants like the gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba) tree and Trophis racemosa.
Melodious Blackbird Behavior
Reproduction and Nesting
When it's time to breed, these birds become very protective of their territory. Adult blackbirds will even attack predators, like the brown jay, to keep their nests safe. Outside of the nesting season, they sometimes form small groups.
Before nesting, a male and female blackbird will perform a special display. Each bird spreads its tail, extends its wings, and ruffles its feathers.
Both the male and female work together to build a cup-shaped nest. They use plant materials and build it about 3–7 m (9.8–23.0 ft) high in a bush or tree. They line the inside of the nest with mud and animal dung to make it cozy.
The female bird lays three or four blue eggs with brown spots. She sits on the eggs to keep them warm (this is called incubating). The male helps by bringing food to the chicks once they hatch. It's interesting that cowbirds, which sometimes lay their eggs in other birds' nests, don't seem to bother melodious blackbirds. This might be another reason why these blackbirds are doing so well!
Status of the Melodious Blackbird
The melodious blackbird is doing great! They have actually benefited from deforestation, which is when forests are cleared. This has created more open spaces and gardens, which are perfect homes for them. This is why their population and home range have grown so quickly.
