When going in trips in nature, or even in the city, somewhere around tall trees and vegetation in general, one can often hear some heavenly chirps. I often wondered how the creature that produced such unearthly music looked like. Perhaps I wasn't the only one wondering, since it had the habit of enchanting the souls of human listeners especially during summertime, but also in spring and sometimes even in some rarely warm winter days. Also, it has the habit of announcing the end of a storm or of a rainfall. This little creature seems eager to share the good news of the end of storm before anyone else has the chance, and does it by its heart-capturing pretty little songs. Well, apparently, it is a 27 cm long mockingbird that can be met relatively often in most countries, especially in low hill forests but also in mountainous areas, and usually close to waters. It can be quite often encountered in the big city parks where it has managed to adjust perfectly. The male is completely black and the female has brownish nuances. The blackbird has an orange beak. The blackbird generally feeds on animal food, usually made of insects and larvae, but also on vegetable food, which comprises certain fruits and seeds. The bird makes its nest close to the ground, in bushes where it starts laying about 4-5 eggs, starting from the month of April. The incubation period is of 15 days and it has about 2-3 series of baby birds every year. There are some more legends on the origin of this bird. One story says that the blackbird was once a priest's daughter. She went to wash some black wool and bathe into the river. There, she was seen by a fairy, that got jealous on the priest daughter's great beauty and stole her clothes, so that the poor girl could no longer appear in front of her father. Because of that, the beautiful girl covered herself in the black wool and prayed to God to turn her into a bird. The song thrush wanted to marry her, but the blackbird would turn into a reed, then into a flower, a cross, into a vine, a maple tree or in a fountain in order to escape the song thrush's proposals. According to a legend from Tony Brill's collection of Romanian traditional stories and legends, there once was a very poor widow. She had only one joy in this world, a hardworking and God-fearing daughter, who used to go to church every Sunday. The daughter's name was Mierlita ("little blackbird"). She was very joyful and used to sing all day long. One day, the girl's mother went away from home in order to work and get more money but she died. The girl waited for her mom for a very long time. Seeing that she doesn't show up anymore, Mierlita put on a black dress, she took some wax and threads and went into the world to look for her mother. Whenever she passed by a church, she would make a candle out of the wax and the threads, she would light the candle to the icon of Virgin Mary and ask for help to find her mother. Thus, she went all over the place, finishing her wax and her threads. But, while she was still knelt in front of the icon where she had lit the very last candle, the Mother of God came out of the icon and told the girl her mother had left this world a long time ago, and that she was quite happy where she was now. And in order for the girl not to suffer, she turned her into a joyful blackbird. That is how the legend says the blackbird appeared, with its black feathers as if she was mourning for someone, and with its beak yellow like candle wax. The blackbird sure is a wonder to our ears. I believe it's song is more beautiful than any kind of man-made music, or even human voice. If you happen to see it or hear it in the near future, enjoy her skillfully created song.