Ahhh! Robins are great and well known for following gardeners around. Cheeky little things. Mine was also savage and used to chase his mate out the garden sometimes (there was a slight difference in their appearance, so I could distinguish them by looks alone). And he used to chase away his fledgelings once they were old enough to be independent. They had about 4 broods, I think I bought 2 or 3 kg of mealworms that season. His mate sat on my fingers a few times but I usually had to look away. Males are much easier to tame.
The male is on the left, female on the right.
I had a tame great tit for about 2 years who would yell at me as soon as I went outside. He’d sit on the shed or washing line and be like, “Well? My chicks are hungry.” If the shed door was open, he’d hop inside onto the worm tub and tell me to hurry up. He couldn’t open the worm tub himself haha. I’d call him and he’d come flying onto the tree. I even got his fledgelings to sit on my fingers like you do with budgies. I had him 2 or 3 years before some upstart stole his territory and he and his mate abandoned their nest a few days before the chicks were due to fledge. The nest was on my neighbours’ property but I wish I had been brave enough to ask if I could retrieve the nest and try to raise them the last few days (I’m autistic and I think I was mute at the time). Instead I could hear them chirping for food every day until eventually they all went quiet :(
I had a semi tame male blackbird, he’d come for the mealworms when I called him. I’d point to where I’d put the worms that day (I’d move them around) and he’d hop straight over. He and my previous tame blackbird both got killed by a cat :(
Have you heard of green manure and no-dig gardening?
Ahhh! Robins are great and well known for following gardeners around. Cheeky little things. Mine was also savage and used to chase his mate out the garden sometimes (there was a slight difference in their appearance, so I could distinguish them by looks alone). And he used to chase away his fledgelings once they were old enough to be independent. They had about 4 broods, I think I bought 2 or 3 kg of mealworms that season. His mate sat on my fingers a few times but I usually had to look away. Males are much easier to tame.
The male is on the left, female on the right.
I had a tame great tit for about 2 years who would yell at me as soon as I went outside. He’d sit on the shed or washing line and be like, “Well? My chicks are hungry.” If the shed door was open, he’d hop inside onto the worm tub and tell me to hurry up. He couldn’t open the worm tub himself haha. I’d call him and he’d come flying onto the tree. I even got his fledgelings to sit on my fingers like you do with budgies. I had him 2 or 3 years before some upstart stole his territory and he and his mate abandoned their nest a few days before the chicks were due to fledge. The nest was on my neighbours’ property but I wish I had been brave enough to ask if I could retrieve the nest and try to raise them the last few days (I’m autistic and I think I was mute at the time). Instead I could hear them chirping for food every day until eventually they all went quiet :(
I had a semi tame male blackbird, he’d come for the mealworms when I called him. I’d point to where I’d put the worms that day (I’d move them around) and he’d hop straight over. He and my previous tame blackbird both got killed by a cat :(
Have you heard of green manure and no-dig gardening?