Moorhens

My pictures are in the wrong order, sorry.

A few weeks ago, while walking through our secret park, Tommy, Lizzie and I discovered a bird with chicks. I thought it looked very exotic -- my pictures don't really show you why I thought that -- with a brightly colored beak and legs, and HUGE feet. The feet weren't webbed, so I didn't think it was a water bird, and when I came home and attempted to find the bird on the internet, I had no luck. BUT, then over the weekend we went to St. James's park, and in addition to seeing pelicans, herons and nests out in the middle of the pond, we found big posters of bird types. And discovered that the birds are indeed water birds and that they are called Moorhens.

We check in on our little family of birds twice a day, and sometimes feed them. They come VERY close so it's VERY exciting to feed them especially if you are Lizzie.

But then yesterday, while Tommy was out exploring in their little area, he got some nettles, so we have to be more careful. (He was great about it -- minimal complaining -- but I fear his sister would not have such a calm reaction.)

Nettles:

The mommy and a baby:
The family -- five babies!