Wednesday 18 November 2020

A sunny morning gradually clouded over. A Green Woodpecker flew over the Rose Garden and landed in a tree, where it obligingly stayed for a photograph.


Feral Pigeons bathed in the small fountain.


A Long-Tailed Tit posed on a red twig.


A Robin looked out from behind a tree.


A Magpie probed an oak branch for insects.


Several Jays chased me along both sides of the Long Water, asking for peanuts. They are quite polite about it ...


... unlike this Carrion Crow which bashes me over the head, painful if not wearing a hat. I am trying to cure it of the habit by speaking sharply to it and not producing a peanut, but the crow thinks it's too funny to stop.


A Mute Swan flying up the Serpentine was prettily backlit by the low sun.


Someone had thrown a lot of wheat into the water at the edge of the Serpentine, attracting a line of Mute Swans and Canada Geese. It's better than feeding them bread.


Blondie the Egyptian Goose lost her mate a couple of years ago and has been solitary since then. Now she seems to have found a new one. They were making a fuss of each other in her usual place near the Dell restaurant.


A Gadwall and a Shoveller passed each other at the Vista.


The Gadwall was followed by a small flock. They ignored the hubbub of someone feeding the gulls.


A Tufted drake came to the edge at Peter Pan.


Closed to people but with the water running, the Diana fountain is becoming a home for more and more birds of different species.

8 comments:

  1. I shouldn't laugh, but the mental image of the crow's persuasive ways is too funny. Sorry that is is causing you pain though.

    Very glad that Blondie has found a new mate after such a long widowhood. Did any of her past offspring inherit her beautiful coloration?

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    1. I don't think that any of Blondie's two broods were pale. It's less likely if the mother, rather than the father, is pale, because birds have their sex chromosomes the other way round from ours. By the way, several of her first brood survived but all the second fell prey to the ever increasing Herring Gulls.

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  2. Is it the same unnamed crow that was attacking you in 2016? And do you still see Charlie and Melissa? Jim

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    1. Yes, it is. Charlie and Melissa gradually moved clockwise round the lake and are now in Hyde Park, in the Cockpit area. There are other crows here, so it's often hard to spot them.

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  3. Wow. What a brazen crow. I am so glad that the American crows by me are not this brash and bold. I have never dared to not give them peanuts when they demand them... I love them like they are my friends. However, when I have late been late sometimes because I was getting ready, one brave one would come right outside of my window and stare in at me. I am still shocked that this crow would do that to you, he is a cheeky fellow.

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    1. Our Carrion Crows are bigger than American Crows, and a lot tougher. You may have seen the recent video one that snatched the pigeon from the ferocious pigeon-eating gull.

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  4. Something very endearing about Tufted Ducks when seen close-up like this!

    My career as a naturalist probably started when I was about 5 years old & I was taken to the park to feed the ducks. Have always retained a strong affection for wildfowl since.

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    1. Tufted Ducks seem to be the prototype of the rubber bath duck, with a permanent smile moulded into their bill and a generally jaunty air.

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