He seems to show a marked preference for standing on solid ground (or at least some of the junk that litters the river bed!) and when you see the photo of the regular two-legged gull sinking into the mud it's not hard to understand why. I'm sure one leg is a lot less stable.
Also some juvenile gulls - I'm not quite sure whether they're Black-backed or Herring.
And recently I saw a juvenile goldfinch on the feeders. C asked me how I knew that was what it was. Well, when I saw one this afternoon and called him to have a look, he knew instantly what it was - even without that distinctive red head the adults have. Taken through a not very clean back window...
One last photo - when I was walking down the road the other day I saw a dead dragonfly - already attracting a lot of wasps and flies, but at least they flew off when I knelt down to take a photo. I suppose it wasn't too far away from the canal, but it was sad to see it just lying there dead on the ground. They're quite big, over two and a half inches long. I think this is probably a female Common Hawker.
Lovely photos. I think those are herring gull young, from their beaks. Poor one-legged gull, it must make life difficult for him!
ReplyDeletePoor fellow. Though I suppose a lost leg for a bird would not be as bad as a wing. And so smart to avoid the soft mud. The way animals adapt to their limitations is amazing.
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