You can't go out looking for these shy little birds. They just happen in unexpected places.
A flock of Long-Tailed Tits can be heard coming from some distance away. This one was in a small olive tree next to the Lido restaurant.
The tree belongs to a Robin, and when I went past an hour later its owner was singing.
There were Mistle Thrushes looking for worms in the grass on Buck Hill.
Beside the Serpentine a Pied Wagtail was also hunting, taking no notice of the Christmas crowds bustling along the pavement.
A Great Crested Grebe was fishing beside the outflow of the Serpentine, where you can get a good view of underwater activity from the balustrade at the edge of the path.
A little group of Red-Crested Pochards at the Serpentine island added colour to a grey drizzly day.
The Black Swan, whom I had missed yesterday, was at the east end of the Serpentine. His girlfriend was nearby, but they wouldn't pose together so here he is by himself.
The speckled hybrid goose was at the Lido having a quiet moment of reflection.
In midwinter the Egyptian Geese fly around from one dead tree to another, displaying to each other and calling noisily. They nest in hollow trees, so it makes sense for them to investigate sites, and to establish their claim to one in good time.
Thanks for turning out to give your Christmas Day update Ralph. Naturally the Black Swan's rear-end frills steal the show for me!
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't be a proper day without a trundle round the park. The picture I am really grateful for is the Treecreeper -- a half second of opportunity, and it came out right.
DeleteYes that is a beauty!
DeleteHave you ever found young Treecreepers or a Treecreepers nest if there is one?
ReplyDeleteThank you for once again sacrificing a Christmas day to walk and post about the park.
Never. They are mysterious, secret birds. There are probably nests somewhere around the SW corner of the leaf yard, but who knows where?
DeleteI fed the speckled hybrid goose some goose pellets yesterday - the first time I have done this, but he came towards the sound of the pellets rattling in the bag and ate from my hand. He is obviously used to such service. He was less able to get out of the water than the Canada geese cruising near him and fell back into the water - he does seem to have a balance issue.
ReplyDeleteSeveral people are feeding this goose, and I think it helps. But no one has any idea of what's wrong. One thing I do know is that the goose was already adult in 2003. But they are long lived birds.
DeleteEvery time I see this goose it puzzles me. I now think it might be a swoose, a hybrid between swan and goose. Is it socially attached to any other birds Ralph?
ReplyDeleteIt's one of four siblings hatched before 2003, of which one looks exactly as you would expect a Canada-Greylag hybrid to look, and the others are lighter in build and speckled. This one is the smallest of the four. It is also in frail health, cause unknown. It's not very old by goose standards, so I don't think it's just elderly. Its three brothers and sisters have not been with it, or in the park, since last year. By the way, we have the remains of three broods of Canada-Greylag hybrids, these four and two singles, so it seems to be a pretty common phenomenon here. We have also had a few pure Canadas and pure Greylags with slightly speckled heads, and a couple of blond Greylags, one of them almost ivory-coloured.
DeleteThank you for your reply Ralph (I missed your reply to a previous query of mine on the hybrid as it went to an email account I rarely check. Very interesting that it is known to be a canadaxgreylag, as it looks very gracile in comparison. I doubt these hybrids are able to breed themselves. I guess they will have more trouble than normal pairing up (although I have seen established hybrid and canada pairings) but one never know! It is nice to see these hybrids as they often are easily recognisable and we quickly get to know them as individuals. That is often also the case with lame ones. A greylag in our park has a leg at a weird angle (pointing inwards a bit) and he is unable to scratch its head and neck properly using that leg.
ReplyDeleteWe do in fact have one Canada-Greylag hybrid paired with a pure Greylag, and they have been together for several years and are always seen together -- of course this is easy to tell because the hybrid is so conspicuous. There has never been any sign of goslings and I have always assumed, without knowing, that the hybrid is sterile. It seems remarkable that two different genera are able to interbreed at all. The difference between Anser and Branta is probably more of an ornithologist's convenience than a real distinction, but swan-goose hybrids are another matter.
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