The Mandarin with two ducklings from the Long Water was on the Serpentine side of the bridge ...
... and there was another Mandarin with two ducklings only a few feet away.
There is also one on the Round Pond last seen with four, and were aren't sure whether there's one more family or the same one has been seen in different places. But anyway, it's been a remarkable year for Mandarins, which in many recent years have never bred in the park at all.
The four Red Crested Pochard drakes were still on the Long Water. One came over to the Vista.
The Coots with the perennially unsuccessful nest on the post at Peter Pan were building it up again ...
... and the new nest in the water lilies in the Italian Garden, which has a much better chance of success, was complete and occupied.
This Coot nested under the balcony of the Dell restaurant, which is Pigeon Eater's territory and he has taken at least one of the brood. But he was away for the time being, so the remaining two chicks could be brought out to feed.
Three Canada x Greylag Goose hybrids were among the geese that have come to moult on the Serpentine.
The Mute Swan 4GIQ and her hybrid cygnet were near the bridge. She shooed a harmless Moorhen.
She has been seen several times with her original mate while the Black Swan is still moping over the infertile eggs.
The swan 4DVZ with five cygnets had come recklessly far up the Serpentine, so it was lucky that the aggressive Black Swan was occupied. She came over hopefully to the shore, and on the way was photobombed by a Swift.
There were a great many Swifts around the Serpentine ...
... and a good number of House Martins.
A Grey Heron made a pefect touchdown on a post at the bridge.
One of this year's young ones, on a fallen tree by the Long Water, took advantage of rain-damped feathers to have a preen.
Two young Magpies on the other side of the bridge flapped and squawked to induce a parent to feed them.
Jays in the Flower Walk ...
... and beside the Long Water were looking soggy in the drizzle but still eager for peanuts.
A young Robin perched on a stump near the Buck Hill shelter ...
... and a young Starling ate mahonia berries at Mount Gate.
The squawking of the young Magpies is something of a soundtrack for summer. Blackbirds have mostly fallen silent, but Magpies are still hard at it.
ReplyDeleteLittle Coots ought to take a page from little Pochards and learn to dive. It's never not funny seeing a Coot jump in the air to dive. What they lose in elegance they make up for in persistence.
Tinúviel
Our Blackbirds, including the one outside my living room window who strikes up at 4 am, are still singing, but the'll fall silent soon.
DeleteCoots are incorrigibly buoyant. Diving is a desperate effort but still has to be undertaken.
Stubborn and delusional are the words that come to mind about the Coots at Peter Pan post. Statistically though, the probability is there for a successful brood over a large set number of failing times, but it would just take a long time to happen.
ReplyDeleteHas Peter Pan's fate of never growing up struck the Coots destiny a bit too hard in Neverland..
Sean
When I saw the low grey cloud cover, I set off to the Round Pond hoping for a Swift fest and was richly rewarded. Scores of them and many flashing past at shoulder and knee height. What a privilege. And a bonus – the Mandarin ducklings you mentioned wandering unconcernedly past my feet picking up something from what had been washed up from the waves, and a long way behind the mother trying to gather the wayward brood. Didn’t we have a similar wayward duckling at the Round Pond last year that was forever wandering off? By the end of the afternoon the black swan was back sticking closely to his mate, shooing off anything in their vicinity. Joseph
ReplyDeleteIt's quite likely that that's the same mother Mandarin as last year, with a tendency to hatch ducklings that keep wandering off. Thr two sets on the main lake are much more orderly and keep close to their mother.
DeleteThe Serpentine too had Swifts whizzing past my ankles in a thoroughly alarming fashion. I wish there were some way of photographing them when they come this close, but human reflexes just aren't up to it.
saw the mandarin duck with the little baby today but it was just one. also saw a baby coot in the nest in the round pond. also saw many egyptian goslings with a dad.
ReplyDeleteI saw a female Mandarin with none at the Vista this afternoon. I think this was the mother of ther two smaller ones photographed yesterday who lost both over the course of today. Surprised that the Coots on the Round Pond succeeded.
ReplyDelete