It was such a nice day out, I decided on the spur of the moment to head down to the Tokyo Wild Bird Park, seeing as how it had been three months to the day since I had been there last. I probably should have visited more often, especially in May, but somehow either never got around to it, or the weather was unfriendly. But I went there to\day, and picked up several new species–as well as getting some very nice shots of some old ones. I’ve divided this post into two because there were just so many birds, it’d make far too long a single post–and I’m not even displaying shots of all the birds I spotted today.

Among the species I saw but had spotted before: Little and Great Egrets, Grey Herons, Barn Swallows, Tree Sparrows, Great Cormorants, Spot-billed Ducks, Eurasian Coots, Little Terns, Little Ringed Plovers, Common Sandpipers, as well as Starlings and of course, Crows. The new species were: Greater Scaups, Terek Sandpipers, Kentish Plovers, Black-tailed Gulls and what I think was a Glaucous Gull. I heard others in the trees, but couldn’t spot them. Seventeen species in all.

First, the best: Grey Herons (Aosagi • アオサギ). There was a family of them, staking out an area very close to the 1st watcher’s blind at the east end of the park, so I was able to get some very nice pictures, as opposed to the single, far-off chance shot I had gotten before. This one is the best: the Heron is standing right in front of me, and relaxed its wings out to the sides:

Almost as if to give me a bit of a Heron fashion show, the bird turned around for a back shot…

And then a profile:

The Heron’s offspring, still with immature plumage, was off to the side but still nice visible:

Previously, as I stopped along the Tama River before going to the park, I spotted the Heron’s cousin, a Little Egret, and happened to snap it catching lunch:

From time to time, I’ll spot a bird and snap photos of it, expecting it to be a certain species, and only discovering later on that it was something else. I almost absent-mindedly shot this duck, thinking it was a Tufted Duck or some other species I’d seen before–but it turned out to be a new one for me, the Greater Scaup (Suzugamo • スズガモ).

One more before wrapping up this post, another repeated bird: the Little Tern (Koajisashi • コアジサシ). Got a few nice shots as it rested on a post in the water.

Coming later: two Plovers, two Sandpipers, and two Gulls.