Mistle Thrushes are usually very shy but this one near the Flower Walk, which I saw when I was only 30 feet away, stood its ground. It didn't do anything interesting but it was good to see it. There are only a few in the park now.
Goldfinches were twittering in the treetops near the Queen's Temple.
While I was trying to get a good shot a Greenfinch started singing in a nearby tree, though there was nowhere to get a clear view of it.
Several Long-Tailed Tits were also dashing around in the trees.
The pair nesting in the Rose Garden are still busy building their nest. One of them gave me a serious stare.
Half a dozen Blue Tits ...
... and the familiar male Chaffinch were waiting for their daily pine nuts.
A Robin near the leaf yard, usually a regular customer, wasn't interested because it had just caught a midge.
There must be hundreds of thousands of these midges swarming all over the park. This is one on an iron gate at the Lido. I think it's a chironomid midge, but there are hundreds of species in this group and I can't guess further. Fortunately they don't bite.
These are the two young Grey Herons from the first nest, which I hadn't definitely seen since they became independent. They were at the east end of the island ...
... with at least two of the three younger herons in the second nest looking down at them.
The heron in the new nest was sitting again. There's no way of knowing what's going on here.
The pair of Coots at the northeast corner of the bridge, which had been fairly inactive for a while, have now started serious nest building.
The male Mute Swan was guarding his nest site at the end of the Lido resturant terrace. It isn't a good place, but nesting sites for swans are so scarce on the lake that it has to be jealously guarded.
The Egyptian Geese at the Round Pond still have eight of their original nine goslings, a fine achievement in the dangerous park with Herring Gulls and Carrion Crows waiting for a chance to snatch one.
In the Italian Garden the Gadwall drake and his friend the female Mallard were resting in a planter.
Primroses have come out on the grassy bank at the southwest corner of the bridge. These are proper wild primroses, not cultivated polyanthus. They were planted many years ago by an old Australian gardener in the days when gardeners were allowed some initiative. He'd probably be sacked now if the management found out.
He also planted some cowslips here.
Just look at the twinkle in the Greenfinch's eye. What an amazing picture.
ReplyDeleteNow that I see the Long tailed Tit looking at you, their eyes seem to be quite more frontal than those of, say, a Robin, right? They're situated more like owl's eyes.
Tinúviel
Yes, I've noticed the frontal placement of Long-Tailed Tits' eyes, slightly more so than that of true tits. Maybe an adaptation to give depth perception at close quarters, for picking tiny larvae off twigs? Over any distance binocular vision doesn't give useful perspective for small birds because their eyes are so close together, and they have to rely on parallax caused by movement (which is why owls bob their heads from side to side).
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