Friday 2 November 2018

A quick visit to the park before I go to Rainham Marshes this afternoon. With luck, there should be pictures from there tonight.

The female Little Owl was in the oak tree near the Albert Memorial.


A Jackdaw examined a hole in a neighbouring plane tree.


Crows perch on high vantage points along the edge of the Serpentine, keeping a lookout for anything edible. If something appears, word spreads quickly and they will flock down to squabble over it.


A Rose-Ringed Parakeet perched on a treetop in front of the waning moon.


A female Blackbird rummaged in dead leaves.


A Robin stared out of a bush.


A Pied Wagtail paused for a moment in its hunt along the edge of the Serpentine.


An adult Moorhen and a teenager worked their way down the edge, apparently finding food in the thin mat of algae. Moorhens will eat almost anything, but it's hard to know what they were finding.


One of the Great Crested Grebe pair at the west end of the island is still in summer plumage, but the other has changed into its plain winter outfit.


The pair of Grey Herons perched in the nest where they successfully raised two young earlier this year.


A pair of Shovellers revolved in the Long Water near Peter Pan.


The Black Swan was on the Long Water too, and came to be fed at the Vista.


But the boss Mute Swan soon arrived, and she prudently left before he chased her away.

2 comments:

  1. Well, if I were a Grebe, I too would be reluctant to take off my summer clothing until next year, given that it is so pretty.

    I long for the day when scientists finally devise a machine that can translate bird language (I guess the other slightly less realistic option would be to find a dragon and bathe in its blood). How I wish I knew what the Crows are saying to one another.

    Pretty Robin! Always so cheerful, even when fixing you with an imperious stare.

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    1. Bernd Heinrich, who wrote Mind of the Raven after a long study of a group of Ravens, never managed to understand what they were saying.

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