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| We have an adult male blackbird in the garden with 'female-type' wings and tail. The
alula, primaries, secondaries and tail feathers are all brown, except for one black inner primary in the right wing. The beak is fully orange and there is no doubting the bird is male. As I write he is feeding young, so it will be interesting to see - from the appearance of the brood - if it this is a genetic characteristic, transmissible to the young. It will certainly make it difficult to sex juveniles if that happens. Frank Mawby |