Blackbirds

The blackbird (Turdus merula) is a species of true thrush. It is also called Eurasian blackbird (especially in North America, to distinguish it from the unrelated New World blackbirds), or simply blackbird where this does not lead to confusion with similar local species. It breeds in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to Australia (where it is considered a pest) and New Zealand. It has a number of subspecies across its large range.

Quotes

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly… ~ Paul McCartney

Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird. ~ Wallace Stevens

• A slender young Blackbird built in a thorn-tree:
  A spruce little fellow as ever could be;
  His bill was so yellow, his feathers so black,
  So long was his tail, and so glossy his back,
  That good Mrs. B., who sat hatching her eggs,
  And only just left them to stretch her poor legs,
  And pick for a minute the worm she preferred,
  Thought there never was seen such a beautiful bird.
  • Dinah Craik, The Blackbird and the Rooks; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 71.

• There always seems to be a kneejerk response to blame environmental pollutants, but collisions with infrastructure are very common. In a tightly packed flock, the birds are following the movements of the bird in front rather than actually interpreting their wider surroundings, so it isn’t unexpected that such events happen occasionally.
  • Dr Alexander Lees, a senior lecturer in conservation biology at Manchester Metropolitan University Why did birds fall from sky in Mexico? Probably a predator, experts say (14 Feb 2022 Last modified on Tue 15 Feb 2022 00.10 EST)

• The birds have ceased their songs,
  All save the blackbird, that from yon tall ash,
  'Mid Pinkie's greenery, from his mellow throat,
  In adoration of the setting sun,
  Chants forth his evening hymn.
  • David Macbeth Moir, An Evening Sketch; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 71.

• Blackbird singing in the dead of night
  Take these broken wings and learn to fly.
  All your life
  You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
  • Paul McCartney, Blackbird, on the Beatles album The Beatles (The White Album) (1968).

• Golden Bill! Golden Bill!
  Lo, the peep of day;
  All the air is cool and still.
  From the elm-tree on the hill,
  Chant away:
  * * * * *
  Let thy loud and welcome lay
  Pour alway
  Few notes but strong.
  • James Montgomery, The Blackbird; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 71.

• Among twenty snowy mountains,
  The only moving thing
  Was the eye of the blackbird.
  • Wallace Stevens, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" in Harmonium (1923) · Full text online · "The Blackbird Is Flying, The Children Must Be Writing" Sam Swope (an essay on the use of this poem as a teaching tool).

• A man and a woman
  Are one.
  A man and a woman and a blackbird
  Are one.
  • Wallace Stevens, in "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" in Harmonium (1923).

O Blackbird! sing me something well

• O Blackbird! sing me something well:
  While all the neighbors shoot thee round,
  I keep smooth plats of fruitful ground,
  Where thou may'st warble, eat and dwell.
  • Alfred Tennyson, The Blackbird; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 71.