Birding Diary Jan. - June, 2010

Birding Diary (Top)

February 21 : Inogashira-park (Tokyo) Sunny and chilly, Temp in Nerima: High 51.8, Low 36.0 (F)
-----Birds in the Zoo
It is too harsh for us to stay in the freeeeezing Tateshina. According to the weather forecast, it will be warmer from next Monday: on Sunday morning, the temperature will be -9(C) (*.*) We easily gave up going to Tateshina and instead of that we walked around in the neighborhood. This is the second time to visit this Zoo in February. There we can see many caged birds: each one of them have duty: preservation of the species. Anyway, we saw Lesser White-fronted oose, Canada Goose and Swan Goose. In the field, it is almost impossible to record the voice of those Goose, and we can do it here. We have mixed emotions toward it though. Thank you for all of you....
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-----outside of the Zoo
We were very glad to see a chick of Little Grebe on the back (of its parents)!! We have been wanted to see it for a long long time. It is so small and cute. We could see two more eggs in the nest, so I expect to see three chicks are on the boat!! For the moment, he/she is the only child and can monopolize. Chase, cling , climb and hide. It shows "A Chick is IN" Someday, I want to see a Little Grebe flies like the wind.....(??)

January 9-11 : Tateshina and its vicinities (Nagano) Sunny, Temp in Hara Village: High 38.3, Low 14.9 (F)
-----Consecutive holidays including Coming-of-Age Day: the second Monday of January
Happy Red Birds !! We are glad to see strawberry-ish pink birds, who is so light that can easily move from branch to branch. And...
Happy Yellow Birds again !! Those 5 yellow birds have big appetite and it was so close that we can easily take her photos. Well, matchmaking photos: frontal facial image, side face, back shot. We always welcome cute little birds, Varied Tits were regular member there :-)

December 26, 2009 - January 2, 2010 : Tateshina and its vicinities (Nagano) Sunny, Temp in Hara Village: High 46.9, Low 78.9 (F)
-----Year-end through New Year holidays
In Japan, most people take off during the first three days of New Year. Seeing the calendar of January 2010 and we felt unhappy that it is just like the usual weekend... They are Friday, Saturday and Sunday...sign. We decided to take off a little earlier: from December 26, the day of the beginning of After Chsristmas Sale(!?). Anyway, we could stay in Tateshina just for relax, seeing the beautiful mountains (in the moring, and in the afternoon.) and sometimes we do birdwatching in our yard. We took many photos of birds who come to our feeding place(house with roof, lantern and stone-and-snow.) from the cozy and warm room. They all have big appetites, don't they? While eating, they always confirm the safety of theirselves. So it was a fuss when they flew away from swooping hawk. He failed hunting and they barely escaped. Very hard and severe...struggling in nature...
Birds we saw/confirmed were Mallard, Black Kite, Sparrow Hawk, Common Buzzard, Kestrel, Rufous Turtle Dove, Common Kingfisher, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, White Wagtail, Brown-eared Bulbul, Siberian Bluechat, 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, Long-tailed Rose Finch, Tree Sparrow, Gray Starling, Jay, Carrion Crow and Jungle Crow.