Sunday 16 October 2016

There are often Goldcrests in the yew tree at the southwest corner of the leaf yard, but they seldom come into view.


In the same tree, a Rose-Ringed Parakeet had pulled off a twig and was chewing the leaves.


This isn't the first time I've seen a parakeet apparently eating yew leaves. As far as I can discover, they are just as poisonous to birds as they are to humans.

The red outside of yew berries is the only non-poisonous part of the plant. The berries are popular with many birds, and they go through a bird's rapid digestive system so fast that the seeds inside are not digested and the poison isn't released. The seeds are then excreted elsewhere, and maybe germinate.


This immature male Blackbird is probably a newly arrived migrant. The number of Blackbirds in the park is noticeably higher, and every year many of the migrants are immature males.

An adult female Blackbird was eating rowan berries in the trees on Buck Hill.


Two Jackdaws were rooting around in the Diana fountain enclosure, digging up tiny larvae.


The pair of Coal Tits near the bridge come out to be fed whenever I go by.


A Starling at the Lido restaurant had found one of its favourite snacks, small enough to carry away and gloriously greasy.


The pigeon-killing Lesser Black-Backed Gull was standing in his usual place on the edge of the Serpentine near the Dell restaurant. A pigeon ambled by in front of him, but he didn't try to grab it, which seemed odd. Then he called loudly ....


... and all became clear. His mate was in the water nearby finishing off a pigeon which he had just killed and eaten as much of as he wanted.


Another half dozen Common Gulls have arrived on the Round Pond. There are never very many of these compared to the other gulls -- numbers never exceed fifty. For some reason they prefer the Round Pond to the main lake.


I hadn't seen the single very late hatched Moorhen chick in the Italian Garden for a while, and had though that it hadn't survived. But today there it was. There are a couple of what look like peck marks on its head -- attacked by a Coot, maybe? -- but it was swimming around and feeding cheerfully.


The female Little Owl at the leaf yard was in her nest tree.

No comments:

Post a Comment