A female blackbird has spent many hours attacking its own reflection in the wing mirror of cars in the Wanganui Chronicle car park this spring.
Wanganui ecologist Peter Frost said the bird was attempting to defend its territory from a rival - behaviour usually limited to nesting and mating season.It's also usually limited to male birds, but female blackbirds can be territorial too.
Photo/Bevan Conley
"Because the reflection looks like another female, the female herself, in effect, is attacking a rival. A rival within a bird's territory would be a threat to the integrity of the resident female's pair bond, because there is always the possibility of the male taking up with the intruding female, or dividing his time between the two of them, to the detriment of the principal female."
