The other young heron was on the other side of the balustrade, on a dead branch. It had a slight confrontation with a Cormorant.
The Cormorant went off, dived, and brought up something which at first sight seemed to be a fish. But it wasn't, and the bird spat it out. I think it was a leather wallet, possibly thrown into the lake by a pickpocket after he had removed the contents.
The young Mute Swan in the fountain pool in the Italian Garden seems quite content, eating algae from the bottom. However, when it stretches its wings, it looks as if the right one is stiff, and it may have injured itself landing in the confined space. The wing folds up normally and is not broken, so it should recover without intervention.
A Great Crested Grebe chick chased its father near the island. The splashing is part of begging, to attract its parent's attention, though you can also hear its loud piping calls from hundreds of yards away.
This young Grey Wagtail ranges all over the lake looking for food, and earlier flew past me in Kensington Gardens, a good mile from the Dell where this video was shot, and also the place where it was hatched. Its home turf is a good place for catching insects as they fly low over the stream.
There was also a Pied Wagtail on the edge of the Serpentine.
Starlings preened on the railings of the Lido restaurant terrace while waiting for someone to leave a table.
A Carrion Crow got bored of waiting.
A Blackbird bathed in a shallow pool in front of the Rima relief. Probably the three small pools here were designed as places for birds to drink and bathe, since the site is a monument to the naturalist W.H. Hudson.
The two Nuthatches in the leaf yard came down to take food from the railings.
A Jay looked down from a maple tree, waiting for me to stop photographing it and give it a peanut.
One of the pair of Coal Tits at the bridge came to Marie's hand to feed.
A Great Tit waited for its turn in the holly tree.
A Dunnock poked around in the shadow of the bushes.
Which are the birds that usually come to your hand to be fed? I count Robins, Great, Blue, and Coal tits. Jays do so too, don't they?
ReplyDeleteThat young Heron looks very tastefully harmonious with the grey stone surrounding it.
Can birds yawn to signal boredom? I confess I had never thought they did!
Great, Blue and Coal Tits, Robins, Nuthatches and Chaffinches, though the latter have been hit by disease and are now rare in the park. Jays will grab a peanut from an upheld hand. But there is a Jay in St James's Park which will perch on the hand of people it trusts and eat shelled peanuts.
DeleteAlso parakeets and feral pigeons, or do you discourage both? Jim.
DeleteI certainly don't feed parakeets or pigeons. Or Starlings, for that matter. I like Starlings, but if you feed one once you have them going at you for ever, and they frighten off the smaller birds.
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