There's no difficulty with Blue Tits, which come trustfully down.
A fine picture by Paul of a Goldfinch picking seeds out of a teazel, one of their favourite foods.
A Rose-Ringed Parakeet looked out of a hole in one of the plane trees next to the small boathouses. The Starlings are still using the trees, and won't give up their holes without a struggle.
The female Little Owl near the Albert Memorial was basking in the sunshine.
The dominant male Mute Swan on the Long Water did an impressive threat display at the Vista, after which he only had to go near the other swans to clear them out of his territory. They know who's boss here.
There were several Shovellers at the Vista. Here for a change is a female in her neat speckled plumage.
On a windy day, a Great Crested Grebe was tossed about by the choppy waves at the downwind end of the Serpentine.
On the more sheltered Long Water, there was still enough wind to encourage one of them to make a short flight.
The odd trio of the Red-Crested Pochard drake and the male and female Mallards seems to have settled down, and they were going around calmly together at Peter Pan. But the drake had a bit of trouble with an aggressive Coot.
A Black-Headed Gull on the Serpentine had difficulty with a cracker thrown to it by a visitor who had no idea of suitable food for birds.
A Grey Heron passed overhead on its enormous wings.
Another good picture by Paul, of a Common Buzzard.
Are Paul's pictures both from the park today? Jim
ReplyDeleteNo. Other people's pictures are not today's unless there is some strange event that calls for an instant transfer, and in that case I always say so.
DeleteThe Great Crested Grebe looks uncomfortable. I imagine bumpy waves must be no fun even for birds that float like corks.
ReplyDeleteI am always amazed by the power and the beauty of the dominant Swan. Crazed violent bully he might be, but what a fine one! Speaking of fine bullies, this picture made me laugh at loud:
https://i.redditmedia.com/CSHIGf7PBxtnMYg2q1xHscOiHf2h9Y9zqDq2RXLHvMM.jpg?w=500&s=555982ff4a0bd6c7db7dadc18dc1fe51
(I wish I knew how to do the link thing? It always looks so clunky and unappealing to leave such large urls).
Lovely pictures of the small birds again. I never tire from seeing them. There is always such light, such vibrant colours, so much detail.
I think the Great Crested Grebe was all right. They can live at sea during very cold weather when all fresh water is frozen. Lovely picture of the fierce Canada Goose.
DeleteThis is how to do a link. I can't print it here quite correctly and am having to use square brackets instead of the corrcet corner brackets, e.g. ] instead of >.
[A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVn9xu86MvY"]Little Grebes[/A]
Substitute corner brackets and you get a working link like this:
Little Grebes
Note that the text that appears on the link is on the right. There is a space after the initial A. Be sure to use straight double quotes, not curly ones.
Thank you! Little Grebes being their secretive interesting selves. Do you have the Black-necked Grebe in England, by the way? They are not the commonest bird but they can be seen here with relative ease.
DeleteJust a few Black-Necked Grebes here, reported as interesting visitors when seen. Odd, because there are literally millions in the western United States.
DeleteLovely video of the dominant swan. Can you recognize if it is the same one that was attacked by a dog and had an injured leg? Your small bird photos are beautiful again too.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's certainly the same swan.
Delete