tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post91539706419458987..comments2024-03-29T01:41:15.713+00:00Comments on Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park birds: Ralph Hancockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-62357635720851434562020-10-05T02:50:44.355+01:002020-10-05T02:50:44.355+01:00There have been quite a lot of comments on my YouT...There have been quite a lot of comments on my YouTube gull video about the ferocity of Yellow-Legged Gulls, from people all over their region. California Gulls also seem to be able to kill pigeons.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-46027486497725298522020-10-05T00:21:14.580+01:002020-10-05T00:21:14.580+01:00Yellow Legged Gulls are awfully efficient at catch...Yellow Legged Gulls are awfully efficient at catching and killing pigeons. Sometimes they even hunt in tandem, and I have seen so many of them at it now in both the north and the south that there is no doubt that thei cultural transmission is very swift.TinĂºvielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04794275230697959519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-53980631692764552672020-10-03T06:28:19.659+01:002020-10-03T06:28:19.659+01:00Thank you. This is a subject of serious interest. ...Thank you. This is a subject of serious interest. Unless one actually sees the killing one can't be sure that the gull did it, but the completeness of the victim is a confirmation that the gull hasn't just scavenged a pigeon dead by other means.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-10707595858310490482020-10-03T06:24:15.455+01:002020-10-03T06:24:15.455+01:00Well, on 6th September in Regent Park I saw a Herr...Well, on 6th September in Regent Park I saw a Herring Gull devouring a pigeon which I assumed he had just caught. Will send picsMariohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06377509108021150006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-24394359378062397702020-10-03T04:47:34.997+01:002020-10-03T04:47:34.997+01:00Yes. I was surprised by that, and indeed I have be...Yes. I was surprised by that, and indeed I have been watching the far more numerous Herring Gulls to see if any of them was trying to hunt pigeons, and no sign of that so far. LBBs seem to be fiercer than HGs. From reports on my gull video on YouTube, Yellow-Legged Gulls seem to be more predatory still and often go for pigeons.<br /><br />I've also noticed a very slow transmission of learnt behaviour between HGs and LBBs, i.e. in the opposite direction. All the HGs in the park routinely do the worm dance, pattering their feet on the ground to bring up worms. It's a highly effective technique, and Common Gulls and even the small Black-Headed Gulls have adopted it. But LBBs tend to tap their beaks on the ground, which doesn't work nearly as well -- the rapid pattering of feet seems to sound like raindrops to the worms, causing them to surface. In all the time I've been watching, I've only seen one LBB doing the dance. It's as if the two top gull species (when the rare Great Black-Backs are absent) are haughtily refusing to learn from each other, a situation all too common with humans.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-68830190428494130182020-10-03T04:18:39.118+01:002020-10-03T04:18:39.118+01:00Brutal but effective the hunting of the Lesser Bla...Brutal but effective the hunting of the Lesser Black-back. It's interesting that the Herring Gulls don't seem to have caught on with this style of hunting, though they eagerly devour water bird chicks.Conehead54https://www.blogger.com/profile/18423862602236191493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-57702317684820360382020-10-03T02:14:13.839+01:002020-10-03T02:14:13.839+01:00Thanks. Changed. I wasn't sure, mas it was not...Thanks. Changed. I wasn't sure, mas it was not very yellow, and should have been more circumspect.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-46649588994682577192020-10-02T23:47:55.430+01:002020-10-02T23:47:55.430+01:00Not Chicken of the Woods, but Giant Polypore
Not Chicken of the Woods, but Giant Polypore<br />Mariohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06377509108021150006noreply@blogger.com