Wednesday 11 June 2014

The Tawny owlets have reappeared, in the horse chestnut tree just to the north of their nest tree. Here are two of the three.


We couldn't find their parents. You would expect at least one to be in the nest tree, as adults have the habit of spending the day one tree away from their offspring, close enough to protect them and distant enough not to be bothered by the restless young birds. But if there was an adult in there, he or she was invisible in the leaves.

The male Little Owl is much easier to find. He has his favourite branch and sticks to it.


There was one new Canada gosling on the Serpentine, closely attended by its mother while its father kept a lookout for dogs.


The two Mandarin ducklings have grown a lot, and now have a real chance of survival.


Their guard of two females has got them through the most dangerous time when they were constantly at risk from gulls. It is quite impossible to tell which female is their mother, or how this curious group came into being.

A young Coot in the small boathouse was being fed by its father.


As long as it can stay on the platform it is safe and sheltered, but once it is in the water there is no way back up.

A young Magpie was pestering a parent for food on the top of a holly tree near Peter Pan.


Young Long-Tailed Tits grow up quickly. This one has almost adult colouring already. They grow their amazingly long tail within weeks of hatching.


The tail is clearly considered attractive, and it doesn't seem to get in the way when they leap agilely through the twigs. But I wonder whether it may actually be an advantage in their undulating flight, where they alternately flutter their wings and then close them for a second and glide like a dart.

2 comments:

  1. Do we know what happened to the small Coot in the boathouse which had fallen into the water?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sadly, I don't think it survived. Haven't seen it for several days. This is not a good place for a nest, and the park wildlife people are unlikely to want to improve nesting conditions for this rather overpopulated species.

      Delete