I
went into the woodland hide and wondered what would be scooping up
the crumbs and dropped seeds this trip. Sometimes its the mallards, a
water rail, dunnocks, coot or moorhen, even a pheasant or goose - but
on this occasion it was a mandarin duck and a group of baby rats. There was also a coot though.
There
seemed to be a mommy rat that dashed in and out, with a large pack of
baby rats - numbering around a dozen in two groups. I also spotted a
reed bunting, who briefly popped by to munch a few seed before
disappearing again.
Soon
afterwards, I spotted a female chaffinch and mallard approach the
rats. The mallard snapped at them to shoo them away, but they didn't
stay away for long and snuck back again.
Who
is this sharing the seed with a goldfinch? I took a couple of
pictures to make sure re the identification - but was right first
guess - a greenfinch.
I
have included an ID board for you, so you don't need to look up the
species of duck pictured with the rats.
The big black bird is the coot? I love that picture of him strolling down the trail.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the park people consider the rats a problem. I think they would be likely to eat the bird eggs.
well i guess they must have - as the rats were absent on my last trip, so i figure they have been humanely removed off site. i know they stopped filling the bird feeders because of them last year, and only fed the birds in winter.
ReplyDeleteThat's good. The eggs will be a lot safer now.
ReplyDelete