A Blue Tit was eating a hawthorn fruit in a tree on Buck Hill. You don't think of them as fruit-eating birds, but evidently they like a change from insects and seeds.
A young Wood Pigeon in a holly tree had evidently stuffed itself with berries, as it had stopped eating and was having a rest.
A Great Tit looked decorative in the same tree.
A male Chaffinch waited in a bush in the Flower Walk for me to throw a pine nut for it to catch in mid-air.
The Robin in the Rose Garden still hasn't got the idea that pine nuts are edible. It will in due course.
The female Little Owl at the Round Pond stayed in her hole in the morning, sheltering from the strong wind. When it got a calmer in mid-afternoon she came out on her usual tree.
A pair of Magpies braved the wind on a twig at the top of a holly tree.
Two pictures from Mark Williams. A view of a Jay in St James's Park is a reminder that I've hardly seen any Jays here recently. That's not because they aren't there: they are very busy at the moment collecting acorns and burying them for the winter.
Two Sparrows at the café on Tower Hill, with an interesting bit of refraction in the thick glass wall. I do miss the Sparrows we had in the park before they vanished in 2000.
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Speaking of refraction, the sunlight made a pretty rainbow in the spray from an Italian Garden fountain.
A Black-Headed Gull had won half a Brazil nut. Someone is spoiling the birds rotten.
One of the Great Crested Grebes at the bridge chased off a youngster that was still begging when it should have been fishing for itself.
Moorhens love climbing, and the clumps of plants in the planters in the Italian Garden are a fine adventure playground for them.
A very light coloured young Cormorant came ashore on the gravel strip in the Long Water under the disapproving gaze of a pair of Egyptian Geese, while a Grey Heron pointedly ignored it.
Canada Geese stood in a row on the edge of the Serpentine. Spot the one Canada x Greylag hybrid.
Several Mallards were digging enthusiastically in the twigs at the bottom of an old Coot nest by the bridge. Perhaps they were looking for water snails, which cluster on submerged objects.
It was surprising to still find a Willow Emerald damselfly. In fact there were two chasing each other around a yew tree near Peter Pan.
Second goose is the hybrid, having pink legs and bill? Jim
ReplyDeleteJust so. Hybrids can also have grey legs. Their faces are very various.
DeleteGlad to see British sparrows have the same raiding habits than Spanish ones. It's mutually beneficial: they get to feed, and we get to delight in their antics.
ReplyDeleteI guess Blue Tits wouldn't say no to sugar, even if present in berries.
Tinúviel
Although I've seen the Sparrows on Tower Hill I haven't seen how they behave at the café. Next time I'm there -- it's on the way back from Rainham Marshes -- I must go over and see to what extent they are table raiders.
DeleteThe sparrows at the Tower mostly hop and dash around on the paving of the cafe, and also obtain some nourishment from whatever they can pick out of the green weed that grows on the pier. They are very receptive to any food that I throw to them :)
DeleteThank you.
DeleteAs for little birds eating fruit, it's not a usual part of their diet so far as I can see, but have occasionally had them taking a small sultana from my hand. Another unusual thing I saw some years ago was a great tit killing a bee for food, and I was amazed to see the bird remove the sting(er?) from the bee - how do they learn things like that??
ReplyDeleteThat is remarkable. I suspect that bee venom is harmless if eaten but may taste nasty, or it could see that the stinger was sharp.
DeleteWow, I didn't know Great Tits were capable of that. Taking the stinger off is something Bee-eaters do routinely. They shake the poor bee until they tear the stinger off the body.
DeleteTinúviel
Interesting to see there are House Sparrows at Tower Hill. Still
ReplyDeletequite widespread around here but local in the borough.
Good to see the Willow emerald Damsels- they do have a long season! We had a male Common Darter at Kew but didn't visit the lakes with the tree group I was with.
Tower Hill is the eastern edge of the central Sparrow-less zone. I think the presence of the café, and Tower visitors dropping food scraps, are sustaining this frontier population. The western edge is St Mary's Cemetery between Kensal Green and Wormwood Scrubs.
DeleteInteresting, Ralph.
Delete[and again today. Grrrrr]
ReplyDeleteWow. Never seen a Rock Pipit in my life. Meadow Pipits, many and often, but that is such a rarity! Let's hope you'll manage to see them tomorrow.
Again with variation within the same species: are some Grebes better than others at dancing? Have you noticed if there are individuals who are less graceful, or more proficient?
Tinúviel
Yes, there was a pair of grebes on the Serpentine last year that kept getting the dance wrong, mistiming the rush together or only one of them realising that they were going to do the full dance, with the other one not standing up. It was a sad sight.
ReplyDelete