The runner up

The Common Blackbird is the national bird of Sweden, not officially but certainly in practice. It gained this coveted status in 1962, when the readers of Dagens Nyheter (a large Swedish daily paper) decided in its favour in a readers' poll. I don't know who the runner-up might have been! The Swedish blue-and-yellow duck?

The "national bird" status isn't surprising, I mean these birds are practically...well, everywhere??!! It's almost ridiculous.

My own relation to the Blackbird is pretty complicated. For a very long time, I wondered why I wasn't seeing any Starlings - supposedly another extremely common bird. However, I was seeing those Blackbirds all the damn time (often in unusually large flocks). Just a couple of years ago, when I took up "bad bird-watching", I realized that most "Blackbirds" I've seen for the past thirty years or so were actually...well, Starlings.

Ooops.

In my defence, let me say that most field guide to birds do state that confusing Blackbirds with Starlings at a distance is extremely common. Well, thank you. At least I don't have to die of everlasting shame for confusing the National Bird of the Kingdom of Sweden with the crop-destroying, noisy, dirty, crow-like Starling. (Apparently, it can mimic human speech, too. Including foul language!) Who knows, maybe this pest of the avian world was the runner-up back in 1962?

I've double checked, and the bird above is definitely a Blackbird (Turdus merula). Not a Starling. Just so you know.