Friday 22 August 2014

The Hobbies have started eating Ring-Necked Parakeets. Paul Turner saw one clutching an unmistakable bloody morsel with some bright green feathers still adhering. He had also seen, some time ago, a Hobby swooping on a parakeet on the ground, though it missed its mark.

Here one of the young birds is feeling a bit full and having a lie down.


A parent was in a nearby tree.


Both trees were on the east side of the path between the Physical Energy statue and the Albert Memorial, today about 100 yards from the statue.

You would think that Ring-Necked Parakeets were a bit large for these small raptors to overpower; the Tawny Owls have found them quite difficult, to judge by a trail of owl feathers I found on a path a few months ago. But the swift and agile Hobbies would have no difficulty in catching them in the air; they just need to be able to hang on to them after the initial snatch.

The male Little Owl was in his usual tree but on a different branch, which gave a good full-length view of him.


The Great Crested Grebe family on the Long Water has moved up the lake to the shore opposite Peter Pan -- there are more fish at the top end of the lake. The two chicks were restless on their father's back and one of them fell off.


The single grebe chick at the east end of the Serpentine is still exploring the plants on the raft. Here it has found a sycamore seed, which it quickly dismissed as inedible.


Some Mute Swans, threatened by a dominant swan, were flying up the Serpentine.


There are still only nine swans on the Round Pond. I don't think the swans will return from the more spacious main lake unless some powerful bird manages to drive them off it -- which has happened before and may again. The pair of swans on the Long Water, with seven young, would clearly like to take over both lakes, though they have not yet managed to extend their territory to the island.

This young Robin on the path beside the Long Water is just growing its first adult red feathers.

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