Birding Diary Jan. - June, 2009

Birding Diary (Top)

June 12(Fri)-14(Sun.) : Tateshina and its vicinities (Nagano) Sunny, cloudy and rain, Temp in Hara Village: High --, Low -- (F)
-----Meeting Venus
As usual, we enjoy staying in Tateshina. We expect to see some beautiful birds, and further...to see "Venus of Jomon" and "Mask Queen", who go on a tour to UK, British Museum Exhibition clay doll from September 10 to November 22, and will be back next spring. It will be a long absence, so we go to say "Bon voyage!" to them. If you are interested in ancient Japanese clay dolls, why don't you go and see them?? It must be "intriguing"! Other special note is...the debut of the Garden Shredder. It is powerful enough to cut stacks of sticks into pieces :)

March 19(Thu.night)-22(Sun.) : Tateshina and its vicinities (Nagano) Sunny after heavy rain, Temp in Hara Village: High 58.2, Low 23.4 (F)
-----The third time's heavy rain in March....
Migrating birds are coming and going: still Yellow-throated Bunting(elegant male1 and shy female 2) are coming to our restaurant. We wait with bated breath with our new telephoto lens and D-60.... Please don't come so close, you run off the viewfinder. Summer visitors must be in the course of their trip now. Permanent resident begin singing! So now is the time to make a debut of the windjammer of LS-10. Please enjoy the cheerful songs of Wren x 2 and Great Tit!! Before LS-10, my husband had been always wierd...oooops sorry...wired when recording. With this compact recorder, he seems very happy and comfortable. On the contrary, I become heavier loading with D-60 and Telephoto Lens (500mm). It's OK, I like this camera which enable me to take such cute birds!! After the heavy rain, we go up to see the red birds, and we can see both red and green birds, singing tenuous but cheerful.
Birds we saw/confirmed were Black Kite, Rufous Turtle Dove, Japanese Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Brown-eared Bulbul, Wren, Dusky Thrush, Long-tailed Tit, Willow Tit, Coal Tit, Varied Tit, Great Tit, Nuthatch, Japanese White-eye, Siberian Meadow Bunting, Rustic Bunting, Yellow-throated Bunting, Brambling, Oriental Greenfinch, Siskin, Red-Crossbill, Bullfinch, Japanese Grosbeak, Hawfinch, Tree Sparrow, Jay, Azure-winged Magpie, Carrion Crow and Jungle Crow.

March 13(Fri.night)-16(Mon.) : Tateshina and its vicinities (Nagano) Heavy rain, snow and blue sky, Temp in Hara Village: High 48.9, Low 21.7 (F)
-----Heavy rain and snow...
Heavy heavy rain in March. It is not a good day to be birdwatchers, so we decide to be carefree sightseers. Why don't you enjoy the winery tour in Japan? Our most favorite wineries are...Hayashi Winery(Shiojiri, Nagano) and Marufuji Wine Industries Co. Ltd.(Katsunuma, Yamanashi). My husband is in charge of driving, and I am in charge of.....tasting wines... He says "You smell grapes!" It was a memorable day(?), we bought our new chopsticks.
Next morning, we wake up with a beautiful song of Wren. It is a good day to go for a walk! We enjoy seeing cute meadow vole in our favorite park. If I were a Owl, I have to eat such cute animals...
Birds we saw/confirmed were Black Kite, Sparrow Hawk, Kestrel, Rufous Turtle Dove, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, White Wagtail, Brown-eared Bulbul, Wren, Dusky Thrush, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Willow Tit, Coal Tit, Varied Tit, Great Tit, Nuthatch, Rustic Bunting, Yellow-throated Bunting, Brambling, Oriental Greenfinch, Siskin, Red-Crossbill, Bullfinch, Japanese Grosbeak, Hawfinch, Tree Sparrow, Jay, Carrion Crow and Jungle Crow.

March 5(Thu.night)-8(Sun.) : Tateshina and its vicinities (Nagano) Blue sky after heavy RAIN(not snow!) Temp in Hara Village: High 47.8, Low 27.1 (F)
Heavy rain in early March in Tateshina??? In the same period last year, we enjoyed snowshoeing there. And this year....we can walk with usual shoes. They seemed have snow on the mountain tops of Yatsugatake. Spring is just around the corner in Tateshina, too. Waxwings were gone. Still Yellow-throated Bunting come to our garden. We can also see many little birds(including cute Great Tit) who fly to the lantern filled with sunflower seed. Today, we see a bigger bird, Great-spotted Woodpecker there!! Wow, you like it?
Birds we saw/confirmed were Mallard, Spot-billed Duck, Black Kite, Rufous Turtle Dove, Great Spotted Woodpecker, White Wagtail, Japanese Wagtail, Brown-eared Bulbul, Wren, Daurian Redstart, Dusky Thrush, Long-tailed Tit, Willow Tit, Coal Tit, Varied Tit, Great Tit, Nuthatch, Rustic Bunting, Yellow-throated Bunting, Brambling, Oriental Greenfinch, Siskin, Hawfinch, Tree Sparrow, Jay, Carrion Crow and Jungle Crow.

February 27 - March 2 : Tateshina and its vicinities (Nagano) Sunny and cloudy, Temp in Hara Village: High 45.7, Low 19.4 (F)
-----I am very happy to see red and partially-red bird and partially-yellow bird (^-^)

Birds we saw/confirmed were Black Kite, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Brown-eared Bulbul, Bohemian Waxwing, Japanese Waxwing, Wren, Dusky Thrush, Long-tailed Tit, Willow Tit, Coal Tit, Varied Tit, Great Tit, Nuthatch, Rustic Bunting, Yellow-throated Bunting, Brambling, Oriental Greenfinch, Red-Crossbill, Bullfinch, Hawfinch, Tree Sparrow, Jay, Carrion Crow, Jungle Crow.

February 14-15 : Tateshina and its vicinities (Nagano) Sunny, after rain and warm, Temp in Hara Village: High 60.8, Low 29.3 (F)
-----It's like late-April or early-May.
We can't, definitely can not expect Omiwatari in Suwako-lake, this winter. Usually, we don't come to icy and snowy Tateshina. Only staying during weekend is so harsh for us. We need so much kerosene just to warm the house. And this February, especially this weekend, it is warm. It is very easy to come and stay. With humming, we enjoy picnicing in the park which commands Suwako-lake. Beautiful blue sky and cute wafer chocolate in pink. v(^-^)v
I will work on Sunday and can't come to Tateshina next weekend.... When can we come back next time?? In the end of this month? I hope so.

February 11: Inokashira-park (Tokyo) Cloudy and chilly
-----Kingfisher in Inokashira-park.
Walking in Inokashira-park with my Nikon! I don't expect to see rare birds, it is enough if I can see some cute little birds. There are many as we expected. And unexpectedly, we hear the voice of Common Kingfishers. It is unsuitable place for recording so we just enjoy watching them. Sometimes he looked very fluffy and cute! Tree Sparrow in our garden is also cute!

February : Suginami-ku (Tokyo) Sunny and cold,
-----Birding in Tokyo
During mid-winter, we enjoy staying in Tokyo. We give up birding, and visit downtown: our most favorite town, Kichijoji. And my daily duty is place Chinese citrons(for Japanese White-eye) and rice(for Tree Sparrow) on the feeding stations. To prevent other birds stealing food, we place plastic box on it, and only the cute bird is allowed to enter it !! With distinct voice, they come!!! Whenever I hear their voice, I feel very warm..

January 25 : Suginami-ku (Tokyo) Sunny, light snow falls and very very cold !!
It seems that both of us caught cold : fortunately not flu. How husky voice you are, honey. And so am I! For the time being, we won't go to Tateshina. It is so harsh for us to stay there, only for a couple of days. That' it!

January 9-12 : Tateshina and its vicinities (Nagano, Yamanashi) Sunny and snow, Temp in Hara Village: High 32, Low 10.8 (F)
During three concecutive holidays, we are staying cool...chilly...cold...no, all are not apt expressions... freezing(yes!) Tateshina. Our parents say, why you are going to go such snowy mountains? and we say, becuase it is the most beautiful season in Tateshina. Seeing the migrating birds and other visitors who comes to the feeding station is another big reason. They are red, yellow and "tiger" ! (And...this is "tiger beans". I'll make bean stew tommorw.)
Birds we saw/confirmed were Black Kite, Common Buzzard, Woodcock, Rufous Turtle Dove, Japanese Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Gray Wagtail, White Wagtail, Japanese Wagtail, Brown-eared Bulbul, Wren, White's Ground Thrush, Pale Thrush, Dusky Thrush, Long-tailed Tit, Willow Tit, Coal Tit, Varied Tit, Great Tit, Nuthatch, Japanese White-eye, Siberian Meadow Bunting, Rustic Bunting, Yellow-throated Bunting, Brambling, Oriental Greenfinch, Siskin, Red-Crossbill, Japanese Grosbeak, Hawfinch, Tree Sparrow, Carrion Crow and Jungle Crow.

December 26 -January 3 : Tateshina, Kiyosato and Nobeyama (Nagano, Yamanashi) Temp in Hara Village: High 46.8, Low 30.1 (F)
Year-end through New Year holidays: long-awited days-off. Every year, we stay in Tateshina, where we enjoy bird watching and seeing wood stove. Yes, it is extremely cold...shivering. But in such a frigid forest(!?), Red Crossbills are full of life. The numbers of the red birds decreased than December though.
December 31: 1 female and two males are coming together to the wall. One beautiful red one is perching on the roof like sparrow, coming to the wall and eats.
January 1: 3males and 3 females(3 couples?) are flying together. Beautiful green females are calling (for who?) cheerfully (not singing) on the top of the tree and all the males are just eating.
January 2: We saw a flock of the red bird, eating pines among the tree and snow on the roof. That's why they came to the roof!
December 28: We enjoy walking in snowshoes in Tsuboniwa, Yatsugatake. Our new snowshoes are very easy to use. The debut of these Snowshoes, we chose the tour route from Tsuboniwa-garden to Amaike-lake. When we started Tsuboniwa, the weather was not good. It was little windy, and when we came back to the place again, the beautiful blue skies were across the sky! It was fun! Where are we going to go, next time? One of the possible site is Nyu-u-gasayama mountains. But it depends on the amount of snow and wind speed. We give it away easily....!!
December 29: Nobeyama(Nagano)
Nobeyama is always windy. Sometimes we hesitate to getting out of the car. Today, the weather is mild and we enjoy seeing Ural Owl, Rosy Finch. I am glad to see beautiful Rosy Finches among the tree. Before that, we only could see they flew in flocks, and eating on the ground. The best location is just sitting in the tree. We also enjoyed seeing Mt. Fuji and ice-cream (soft type with corn: 350 yen)!
Birds we saw/confirmed were Black Kite, Sparrow Hawk, Common Buzzard, Pheasant, Woodcock, Rufous Turtle Dove, Ural Owl, Japanese Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, White Wagtail, Japanese Wagtail, Brown-eared Bulbul, Bull-headed Shrike, Wren, Daurian Redstart, Dusky Thrush, Long-tailed Tit, Willow Tit, Coal Tit, Varied Tit, Great Tit, Nuthatch, Siberian Meadow Bunting, Rustic Bunting, Yellow-throated Bunting, Brambling, Oriental Greenfinch, Siskin, Rosy Finch, Palla's Rosy Finch, Long-tailed Rose Finch, Red-Crossbill, Bullfinch, Hawfinch, Tree Sparrow, Jay, Carrion Crow and Jungle Crow.