Monday 19 March 2018

The snow was almost completely melted, and Blackbirds ...


... and Robins could get on with business as usual.


A Blue Tit in the Rose Garden waited for some Rose-Ringed Parakeets to leave the feeder.


Anyone who feeds the parakeets may find that he gets more than he bargained for.


One drank from a puddle left by the melting snow.


Long-Tailed Tits flew through dense tangles of twigs. I don't know how they do it.


A Pied Wagtail ran briskly along the edge of the Serpentine.


A Jackdaw perched on a branch in the chilly sunshine.


The male Little Owl at the leaf yard looked down from the nest hole.


The female owl near the Albert Memorial emerged from the crack in the top of the branch they nest in.


A brand-new brood of Egyptian Geese was being brought down to the lake, attended by one of the gardeners who had to lift the goslings up the kerb.


But once in the water they faced attacks by a Mute Swan and a rival Egyptian, the male of another pair whose territory they had crossed in getting to the lake. A Lesser Black-Backed Gull waited to pounce.


And Herring Gulls were circling overhead.



The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull can't catch a Feral Pigeon on open ground -- they are wary and can take off faster than he can.



So he had a go at a Black-Headed Gull instead, and missed it by a fraction.


The recent repairs to the small boathouses involved fixing welded metal mesh to all the openings to keep pigeons from entering. But of course the pigeons have got in. They always do.

2 comments:

  1. What a remarkable video of Pigeon Killer having a go at a Black-Headed Gull! I don't think I've ever seen that behaviour before. Isn't the smaller gull more maneouvrable than any pigeon, though?

    The clip documenting the Egyptians' carefree attitude towards parenting is chilling. One can almost hear what the waiting Gull is thinking. It is a wonder how any chick manages to make it to adulthood.

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    Replies
    1. Not even the small agile Black-Headed Gulls can take off as fast as an ordinary Feral Pigeon.

      The population of Egyptian Geese in the park is slowly falling as a result of the increase in the number of Herring Gulls.

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