Friday 20 June 2014

The Mute Swans on the Serpentine whose territory is next to the bridge, and who have five cygnets, have begin to resist the invasion from the family on the Long Water. They have been parking their brood on the shore exactly where the Long Water swans had put theirs, and the male was hanging around under the bridge looking for a fight.


Meanwhile however, the female swan found herself assailed from the other side, by the next pair along the lake. It's not easy being a swan.


The Canada Geese that were first to moult already have half-grown wing feathers, which you can see here still wrapped in the blue packages inside which they emerge.


The eldest brood of Egyptian Geese already have a near-adult appearance, though you can see that their flight feathers haven't reached a useful size yet. So far none of them seems to be suffering from angel wing.


The male Little Owl was out in an open space on his favourite branch.


Little Owls like to be able to keep a watch on the ground: there might just be a tasty beetle passing by. And if they can see down, we can see up to photograph them.

But there was no sign of the Tawny Owl family, although I looked in all the recently occupied places.

A Ring-Necked Parakeet in the leaf yard was eating some very unripe berries.


I hope they don't make it as sick as a parrot.

4 comments:

  1. Re the Egyptians: what is angel wing?

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    1. Angel wing is a developmental deformity where the primary feathers stick out at an angle and the wing won't fold. It is thought to be caused by feeding white bread to young birds, which causes a mineral deficiency.

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  2. I love going to your blog sheet Ralph and finding out how the owls etc are getting on. I visit the park far less than I use to and usually cannot find any of them so your blog keeps me up to date and I am delighted with both your photos and comments. I did manage to see two of the Little Owls a couple of days ago. Please keep up the good work.

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