On a dismal rainy day the Rose-Ringed Parakeets looked miserable. The English climate doesn't suit them and their feathers aren't waterproof.
The native birds are used to it and for some, like Mistle Thrushes, it brings up welcome worms.
Newly arrived Redwings have been flying over the park. I haven't yet found any on the ground, and this video was shot last winter.
A Starling thought it might as well get properly wet.
A Robin perched on a twig in the Rose Garden next to a flower bed where the gardeners were working. The freshly tilled soil is a fine place to look for small creatures of many kinds.
The usual Coal Tit at the bridge came down to be fed, and allowed me time for just one photograph.
The Jackdaws ...
... and Jays are more patient in front of the camera. They know they'll get a peanut eventually. This is the Jay near the bridge that flies down to snatch a nut from my fingers, a game we both enjoy.
A Grey Heron stood patiently on a dead branch ...
... but another caught a substantial pike next to one of the small boathouses.
A Great Crested Grebe was also busy fishing, keeping low and ready to dive.
A Moorhen wandered through the wet grass at the edge of the Italian Garden ...
... where the Red-Crested Pochard drake and his Mallard mate stood on the edge of a pool.
A lone Shoveller drake preened on the Serpentine. All the others are on the Long Water.
On wet days when the park is almost deserted, geese can wander freely across the Serpentine Road to enjoy the lush grass on the other side.
The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was also here, eyeing a couple of Feral Pigeons on the edge of the lake. This isn't his usual place. He may be thinking he's inconspicuous against a background of quite similarly coloured Canada Geese.
But what a photograph of the Coal Tit! Worth a dozen more.
ReplyDeleteToday was awfully windy and rainy here as well. I have seen bands of Jackdaws take to the air to play and frolic in the wind, like so many black kites.
I wonder where from India the Parakeets originally come from - I would have imagined they would be used to showers.
Both Jackdaws and Carrion Crows love playing in the wind. It's a difficult subject to capture on video, but I am always looking for a chance.
DeleteThese parakeets are of the subspecies Psittacula krameri manillensis, named for Manila in the Philippines. They are a southern race, not the hardy Ring-Necked Parakeets of northern India which can live in the foothills of the Himalayas, and that makes their adaptation all the more remarkable. Really, since the recent episode of evolution that allowed them to survive the English winter, they should be assigned to a new subspecies.
Quite an impressive Pike caught by the Heron! Also a very handsome Red-crested Pochard. I admire your fortitude taking photos in that rain, though I was working in it for a few hours.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind the rain, but it's awkward using the big camera with a wet flappy waterproof cover, and the video camera is very vulnerable and has to be used from under a tree if at all.
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