Monday 10 November 2014

Who's a pretty bird?

After some thought, I decided to head to East Park today, as there were two bird species I hadn't seen this year that I wanted to watch. Week days are always quieter there and I guessed the chances of good views would be greater. The day was overcast, with dar clouds, and a light breeze. As I was locking the car in the main entrance car park I heard the screech of a jay, but was unable to locate it.
 A pair of blue tits were hunting on the shrivelled leaves of a small horse chestnut. They proved tricky to photograph, as they often hung nimbly from underneath the umbrella-like leaves and it was hard to see what they were after, although the chances are that they were hunting horse-chestnut leaf miner pupae (Cameraria ohridella).
 Swan 775 spent the whole morning by the lake landing, grooming.
 I heard Jackdaw calls, like last week, and this time I saw them too, on top of the ticket office building. There were three of them, and this is the first time I see them in the park.
 There were good numbers of Pochard, mostly males, I only saw one female
A pair of Great Crested Grebes were present at the East side of the lake
 The first pretty bird was the Goosander, four females and two males, were snorkelling near the large island, still nervous of people getting too close.

 I heard the call of the parakeet. I hadn't seen it for quite a while, but here he was, the lone male in a garden by the park, eating an apple. Isn't he a pretty bird too?


 A Mistle Thrush guarding a Whitebeam. It must be out of habit, as there were few berries left on the tree.
I heard the call of a wagtail, and managed to see it landing by the bridge, a Grey Wagtail it was.
In the mini zoo, a very large young wallaby nursed
On the skate park, another Grey Wagtail, this one with a paler chest than the other.
And then I heard the Jay again. This time I found it on a tree. I hid behind the exercise machines and watched it feeding on the ground for a while.

I lost it when it flew to the hollies, but just as I was leaving, it flew over and landed on a horse chestnut tree by the car. This was the best and longer jay encounter I ever had. Who's a pretty bird indeed?

Bird List
  1. Black-headed Gull
  2. Blackbird
  3. Blue Tit
  4. Canada Goose
  5. Carrion Crow
  6. Chaffinch
  7. Coal Tit
  8. Collared Dove
  9. Common Gull
  10. Coot
  11. Cormorant
  12. Dunnock
  13. Feral Pigeon
  14. Goldcrest
  15. Goldfinch
  16. Goosander
  17. Great Crested Grebe
  18. Great Spotted Woodpecker
  19. Great Tit
  20. Greenfinch
  21. Grey Wagtail
  22. Greylag Goose
  23. Herring Gull
  24. House Sparrow
  25. Jackdaw
  26. Jay
  27. Long-tailed Tit
  28. Magpie
  29. Mallard
  30. Mallard (domestic)
  31. Mistle Thrush
  32. Moorhen
  33. Mute Swan
  34. Pochard
  35. Ring-necked Parakeet
  36. Robin
  37. Starling
  38. Tufted Duck
  39. Woodpigeon
  40. Wren 

2 comments:

Crafty Green Poet said...

well done on the jay photos, very handsome birds, they're always elusive when i see them!

Africa Gomez said...

Thank you Crafty Green. Jays are pretty rare in Hull, so it is exciting this individual has chosen to stay in East Park, let's hope at some point it finds a mate, it is good quality habitat for them with lots of oaks and mature trees.