Bill Haines found a first-year Mediterranean Gull on the Round Pond yesterday. Here is his picture of it.
%202022%201a.jpg)
He also found a Black-Headed Gull which had been ringed in Barcelona on 20 January, plastic ring Blue NH63, metal ring ESI.K001568. This may be the first gull of Spanish origin seen in the park. The recent heatwave would have been nothing to it after the scorching summer they have been having in Spain.
I went there to look for them and didn't find either. But this Lesser Black-Back which was eating a pigeon it had clearly killed is not one of the regulars on the main lake, so clearly the habit is spreading.
Bill also saw a Common Sandpiper on the gravel bank in the Long Water, and two were reported elsewhere, probably on the Serpentine. I didn't find those either, so it was a most unsuccessful day for rarities.
But at least the female Little Owl near the Round Pond was visible ...
... along with an owlet in the usual hole.
The male owl was calling from a tall lime tree. I've heard him calling from there several times and never seen him. There is a hole in the tree exactly a comfortable size for a Little Owl, and I think he's calling from inside it.
A Jay demanded a peanut from a branch of a lime ...
... and a Magpie did the same on the ground below.
A Carrion Crow was eating what I think was a satsuma. I am surer about the species of the bird than I am of the orange.
A Wood Pigeon drank from the Serpentine. Birds don't like the lake water, and if this one had waited a few minutes it could have had fresh rainwater, as there was a series of thunderstorms in the late morning which went on well into the afternoon. I got very wet indeed.
At least the rain suited the Blackbirds.
Mark Williams photographed a young Robin in St James's Park looking damp but cheerful. I wonder what proportion of worms has survived the drought.
%202022%201a.jpg)
These are two of the home-loving Coot chicks which cling to their nest by the bridge when normal teenagers would have dispersed on to the main lake.
A Tufted Duck cruised past a fallen leaf.
A teenage Greylag Geese flapped its large wings. This is one of a brood that were hatched outside the park, away from the numerous and ravenous Herring Gulls, and brought in by their parents as soon as they could fly.
Greylags can fly before they grow to full size, unlike Mute Swans which remain flightless until fully grown -- a protective arrangement because swans are unmanoeuvrable in the air and naive young birds would be likely to crash into a tree.
There are at least four Canada x Greylag hybrids on the lake, all looking quite different.
A pair of Egyptian Geese enjoyed a splashy wash on the Serpentine.
I wonder how a gull from Barcelona should have ended up in London. I was thinking it may have got lost, but there has been no rainstorm or gale to blow it away that I know, and there is so much land and sea between both locations it looks as if it is a voluntary decision. Barcelona has been hit hard by the heat, but not as hard as the south-west, so I doubt it was trying to escape the heat. I confess I am scratching my head. Maybe it trekked up or was blown away north to France and from there flew in stages westwards?
ReplyDeleteTinúviel
We get gulls from northern Europe in winter. So I suppose it makes a kind of sense that we should get a gull from southern Europe in summer. Maybe it had been breeding at the Mecca of Black-Headed Gulls, the Pitsea rubbish dump in Essex.
DeleteFabulous that you're still getting the little owls. For the first time ever I was disappointed when a central London meeting was cancelled this week - I'd been hoping to make another visit to the park! For the future
ReplyDeleteGood luck. The owls are getting harder to see now, so the sooner you can make it the better.
DeletePleased you saw the juv Med Gull. Bill posted a shot of it on one of the Whatsapp groups on Tuesday & noticed Des reported it again yesterday. I do remember seeing this species on the Round Pond a fair number of years back, when one was wintering there.
ReplyDeleteYes, I remember that Mediterranean Gull. We also got a first-year Little Gull on 24 September 2004, the only one I've ever seen.
DeleteThe Lesser Black-back photo is missing. Also I was dreading counter-evidence to my theory that citrus fruit repels birds, but it's a wrap or sachet of mayo or some similar substance, not an orange. The ever excellent photography reveals this.
ReplyDeleteAre any of the old foursome of Canada-Greylag (or was it vice versa) hybrids still about? I wouldn't recognise them. Jim
Thanks. I've put in the missing picture of the Lesser Black-Back. Its leg colour is different from that of either of the three pigeon-eating LBBs in the park, which have deep yellow (the famous bird), straw coloured and pale grey legs respectively.
DeleteI looked at the very large original of the crow picture. It really is a satsuma or mandarin or clementine. You're right about birds' general aversion to citrus fruit, but these are extra sweet varieties.
The old hybrid geese have all gone now. The last one, very arthritic and frail, died a year ago.