More good news about the Little Owls -- and a look at the Kestrel

More good news about Little Owls. This morning both Richard Oxborough and Neil found some of the Round Pond family in different places. Here are Richard's pictures of the male adult ...

... the female ...

... and the usual teenager in the dead tree where the nest was.

He said that when one of the owls called there were answers from at least three places, so it looks as if more than one of the chicks have survived.

Here are Neil's pictures from the same place. First a young owl in the hole in the horse chestnut, taken early on a grey morning against the light, so it looks darker than it is. I'm now wondering whether the young owl here is a different bird from the one in the hole in the nest tree.

And here is a later picture taken at 1 pm of what I think is the male adult, considerably less fluffed up than in Richard's picture because the sun was on him, and looking quite pale in the strong light.

Neil also found at least one of the owls we saw last year near the Speke obelisk. I had seen what was certainly a male owl here on the Saturday before last but didn't have a camera at the time. I returned to the spot for several days afterwards but couldn't find him again.  This picture was taken first, at about 1.15 pm, in the oak tree where I saw him ...

... and this one at 2.30, in the sweet chestnut where their hole is.

I'm not sure whether it's the same owl or not. They look like a female and a male, but owls change size according to how hot or cold they're feeling, and only the eyebrows are different but even these change shape with their mood. Sometimes you just can't tell. But the important thing is that these pictures prove that the Round Pond owls are a different lot from the Speke owls, rather than the Speke owls who moved to a new place this year.

Richard also saw a Rose-Ringed Parakeet which had torn a bit of bark off a tree by the pond.

As far as I know, parakeets don't eat insects -- though most species said to be vegetarian aren't dogmatic about it -- so I don't think it had removed the bark to find insects underneath. Perhaps it was just playing.

Two days ago I mentioned that Long-Tailed Tits favour hawthorn trees, and that this may be due to their infestation with Hawthorn Moth, which provides a lot of caterpillars for the birds. The trees also seem to have full-grown moths in them later. Here are two pictures of Long-Tailed Tits in trees devastated by the moth. The silk webs in which the caterpillars develop have disappeared, leaving only a few leaves they didn't get around to eating ...

... or in this case none. This isn't a winter picture, it was taken a few days ago.

A Chiffchaff in a treetop near Peter Pan ...

... and a Wren from the colony near the Henry Moore sculpture protesting at a predator.

Carrion Crows and Grey Herons on the Vista spotted someone who might be about to feed them and hurried over.

A crow with a hamburger bun looted from the Lido restaurant.

Although there are a lot of Herring Gulls on the Serpentine, sometimes as many as 120, two pairs manage to maintain territories on the south shore of the lake and repel intruders. I've already videoed an adult pair several times, but this is a young pair, both two years old and not yet in fully adult plumage. Here they are cruising around together, calling affectionately.

Today's look back is at the female Kestrel who for some years has been hunting all along the north edge of the park. Here she is in a sweet chestnut tree near the Italian Garden.

She usually hunts over Buck Hill and the Meadow on the other side of the road. Here she is in a windblown tree on Buck Hill.

She has seen the ambulance helicopters landing and taking off on Buck Hill so often that she gives them no more than a passing glance.

She has even been seen flying around it. Tom took this picture.

In 2018 she found a mate and bred, and for some time became much more visible as she was busy finding food for her one chick. You could see her flying low over the grass ...

... in search of grasshoppers ...

... or hovering ...

... to swoop down ...

... and grab a mouse. Thanks to Ahmet Amerikali for this picture.

We only saw the young Kestrel occasionally.

This picture by Virginia shows it almost grown up, sparring casually with its mother. The young one is on the left -- you can see that the barring on its front is more diffuse than the adult pattern.

She got so used to people that she would come quite close, and once she landed almost on my foot to grab something in the grass.

Crows were always a problem. Thanks for Virginia for this picture.

So were Magpies ...

... and sometimes both at once.

I could never get a picture of her mate. He was only ever seen in the distance, circling over Bayswater. I think she kept him off her hunting ground. So here is a video of a male Kestrel in Richmond Park, often visible near Pen Ponds.

Fran photographed him eating a rodent, possibly a water vole.