Wednesday 9 October 2019

A Black-Headed Gull with a broken wing has been at the Round Pond for a couple of days, surviving but constantly attacked by the other gulls. Virginia managed to catch it, put it in a carrier bag, and drove it to her friend Anita Oddy, who takes in sick and injured birds and looks after them till they are collected by the swan sanctuary.


This is Anita's picture of the gull with its wing strapped up, ready for collection. How well it recovers depends on the site of the break, but at least it's being cared for. It enjoyed a hearty meal of tuna.


The first returning Common Gull to be seen in the park. They have been trickling into London in small numbers for a few days.


Cormorants bickered on the fallen horse chestnut tree in the Long Water.


A Great Crested Grebe stood in the shallow water at the shore and flapped its wings.


I'm always surprised that they can fly at all with these undersized wings. They manage to stay up by going extremely fast. Takeoff is a long and desperate hurtling rush, and touching down is more or less a crash. You might compare the notorious F-104G Starfighter.

A Moorhen passed over a shoal of large carp in a fountain pool in the Italian Garden.


The wind ruffled the feathers of a pair of Mute Swans preening beside the Serpentine.


A flock of Long-Tailed Tits flew over at Peter Pan ...


... where a Black-Headed Caique had been brought out to enjoy the autumn sunshine, wearing a little harness like an errant toddler. I bet the owner gets bitten hard when he tries to put it on. A friend of mine who has two caiques described them as 'like two-year-olds with bolt cutters fixed to their faces'.


Carrion Crows at the Dell restaurant found an unattended object which I think was a vegetarian sausage roll. They demolished it in 30 seconds.


This planter at the restaurant had only just been filled with fresh plants. It was quickly thronged with Starlings. There must have been plenty of insects on the plants, though I couldn't see any.


A Robin looked down from the tatty plywood fence around the Lido swimming area, splintered by people climbing over it to avoid paying.


Two good pictures taken today by Ahmet Amerikali in the shrubbery near the bridge: a Goldcrest ...


... and a Chiffchaff.

4 comments:

  1. Poor little guy. Thank God for good, kind-hearted people like Virginia and Anita.

    Aren't Grebes miracles of nature? Everything about them moves one to wonder and marvel.

    How funny that Caique being taken for a stroll! Although it seems desirous to bite a few fingers clean off.

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    1. Those Caiques are not the only parrots. I've several times seen a couple with a pair of huge Hyacinth Macaws. And I think I've told you about the African Grey whose owner thought it would fly around for a bit and come back to him.

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  2. On the subject of injured black headed gulls did anyone else see this one flying with one leg in Hyde Park 3 years ago? It seemed very healthy.

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/14586608@N08/25845141962/in/album-72157665697810145/

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    1. At this time there were two one-legged gulls, one with a right leg and the other with a left leg. Both seemed to be getting on perfectly well.

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