Jon was awakened this morning by the horrible sound of something beautiful … being eaten!  He was, unfortunately, correct.   Two foxes were consuming what he later surmised may have been a Turtle Dove.  Jan said that foxes are everywhere now, even in the most urban sections of London.

 

We spent the rest of the morning assembling the Bicycle, and getting the gear together for the trip to the Netherlands tomorrow.  For the remainder of the day, we walked from Jan’s house to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Cathedral.  It turned into a nine mile hike which we’re too tired to say much about tonight – but will fill in later.  In the mean time, you can follow our route in the upper right track log.

We will be doing our European birding in a somewhat unusual way.  In keeping our carrying weight down, we decided not to bring a Bird Guide.  Instead, we will be attempting to photograph our sightings, and either post the pictures here for identification from our visitors, or look them up when we return home.  So, when we have new sightings, we will be posting a “Birds du Jour” section in our journals.

 

Yesterday Jon was becoming concerned because he saw and heard only one species of bird the entire day – pigeons!  Today he is delighted to say that we now have proof we aren’t in North America anymore!  Jon saw 3 new species this morning.  These are guesses in some cases, but they appeared to be Turtle Doves, Chickadees, Crows, a Wren, a Robin eating a worm (a bit different than the North American type), and of course – more Pigeons.  He also heard what sounded like English Sparrows, though did not see any.