Eurasian Blackbird

Turdus merula male · eBird.org

Info

Common name: Eurasian Blackbird Scientific name: Turdus merula

The Eurasian blackbird is one of the most familiar and beloved birds across Europe — the male jet-black with a vivid orange-yellow bill and eye-ring, the female a dark brown with a streaked pale throat. It is a member of the thrush family and one of its finest singers.

The blackbird’s song is famously rich and melodious: a slow, fluting, deeply musical series of phrases with a meditative quality that sets it apart from the faster songs of other garden birds. Males typically sing from exposed perches — rooftops, treetops, aerials — in the early morning and at dusk. In Iberia, song can begin as early as January.

Resident throughout Portugal and ubiquitous in gardens, parks, woodland edges, and hedgerows, the blackbird is as much a part of the urban soundscape as the rural one.

Song & Call

Recording XC55179 via xeno-canto.org — Creative Commons licensed.

First recorded: 26 May 2026 · Cruz de Argola, Guimarães, Portugal