When I went to Kasai Rinkai Park a few weeks back, mostly I saw birds that I’d already seen before, though there were a few interesting surprises. One of the first birds I spotted way back when I started was the Black-crowned Night Heron (Goi-sagi • ゴイサギ), which I saw at Inogashira Park, quite to my surprise. I hadn’t seen once since, until I went to Rinkai:

A weird-looking bird, that one is. Almost like a penguin with devilish red eyes. But at Rinkai, I also saw an immature Black-crowned, which appears radically different from its mature counterpart, as you can plainly see:

I did get one new species but did not realize it–I had spotted some Grey-tailed Tattlers, but mistook them for more common sandpipers:

Other than that, it was just ordinary birds, though there were dozens of Egrets in one location:

That’s not all of them, of course, but you get the idea. Lots of big, tall white birds.

One other thing about Kasai Rinkai is the other wildlife you’ll see. I went down one path to a bird blind, and as I approached the structure, a whole bunch of small creatures scrambled away. Startled me, especially when I saw what was scrambling:

Lots and lots of these little crab critters. They were everywhere in those dark and damp corners. And then I also spotted:

ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNO-TOAD!!

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But seriously. I also went to a small park on the bay close to the Tsukiji fish market (which is near Ginza), a park called Hamarikyu Garden, originally a duck-hunting ground for the imperial family. This place was less a bird-watching haven, though, and more just a general bayside park. It also cost 300 yen to get into. I won’t be going back, but I did see some nice birds, including one new species: a Swan Goose (Sakatsura-gan • サカツラガン), an import from China, this one banded and quite tame–you could get within a few feet of it.

I was also able to get very close to a Cormorant:

Click to see larger image.

That covers the Rinkai Park visits up to now and a bit of other stuff. I still have to document the latest visit to the Tokyo Wild Bird Park near Haneda, where I saw several new life birds. However, I might have to extend this series of posts because I may go birding again tomorrow. Perusing the maps, I stumbled upon yet another wild bird park, this one just a little farther out than Kasai Rinkai. I also realized that I should be coming to these places at low tide, and that’ll be before noon tomorrow, so I might just make a three-park run if I have time and if the weather permits (which it should). Some day I’ll have to get out to the Yatsu Higata Salt Marsh in Funabashi, but probably not tomorrow. Once I do, I’ll be able to make a more detailed report on good birding spots in the Tokyo area, having covered a lot of the good places.

Long story short, the birdin’ ain’t over yet.