Sunday 17 September 2017

A Starling on the Lido restaurant terrace paused between raids on the tables to enjoy a thorough preen.


A Coal Tit attacked a gall on a tree near the bridge, removing the insect larva that it contained.


A flock of Long-Tailed Tits flew out of the Dell and along the trees bordering the Serpentine.


A Carrion Crow played idly with a leaf in the water.


A dozen Mistle Thrushes on Buck Hill were prospecting for worms in the grass.


The small perch on the feeder in the Rose Garden is designed to make it difficult for any bird much bigger than a tit to perch on it. But a Rose-Ringed Parakeet will always find a way.


The song came from the Robin who owns this bush, now in full voice after the late summer lull.


The Grey Heron at the Dell restaurant had taken the pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull's favourite perch. There isn't much a gull can do when a heron moves in.


One of the Great Crested Grebes on the Long Water brought a fish to a chick under the willow next to the bridge.


A male Egyptian Goose makes a harsh call that sometimes sounds like hoarse panting. He is at the back in this clip. A female quacks. Males are usually a bit larger than females, but there is some overlap.


A Greylag Goose looked at a bit of mandarin orange that someone had thrown to it, and rejected it.


But it was a surprise to see that a Feral Pigeon wouldn't touch it either.


This pigeon has a Rorschach test on its back.


The female Little Owl at the Leaf Yard was in her usual tree, though not in a good place for a picture. Shortly after I took this, a Magpie buzzed her and she retreated into her hole.


A Sunday afternoon concert by the Crooks Saxophone Quartet in the bandstand in Kensington Gardens. They were at pains to point out that a crook is part of a saxophone.

5 comments:

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    1. Indeed. But of course I waited till they were at their most deafening.

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  2. That is a very gorgeous pigeon. I have no imagination so Rorschach tests are of no use to me, but the dark pattern on the white background is truly pleasing.

    I had never thought that the Egyptians made such a racket.

    I can almost hear that Robin singing.... The Little Owl does seem very discomfitted, poor thing.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, if someone asks me what a Rorshach figure looks like, I always think 'an ink blot'.

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    2. Ralph, I think you are going to enjoy this:

      https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/09/the-source-of-mozarts-inspiration-a-great-musical-whodunnit/

      The source of Mozart’s inspiration - a great musical whodunnit
      The composer was devoted to his pet starling. But did its singing really contribute to the Piano Concerto in G major?

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