Birds at the Park
When Sachi and I were at Shinjuku Gyouen, I spotted a few birds that made it worth the ¥400 for us both to enter. One was a bird I’d seen quickly in passing before, another was an entirely new species–rare enough for me nowadays. The one I’d seen in passing was the Rose-ringed Parakeet, a largish parrot-like bird, and an invasive species (escaped pet) to Tokyo. Though they can be spotted all over Tokyo, hundreds flock near a biological institute in Setagaya. It seems, however, that they like the east side of Shinjuku Gyouen–where I spotted them both times.
Pretty birds. Lovely plumage.
I could not identify this next bird on spotting, but it turns out that it’s a Brambling, or アトリ (Atori) in Japanese. The distinctive white markings on the wings and back made it pretty clear what it was.
Actually, it was the red breast that first gave it away–not too many birds have that.
To show how hard birding can be at times, here’s the same bird from two other angles. Compare with the previous photos–they don’t look very much alike.
This last bird remains a mystery–I have to get this one ID’ed at the bird forum or something.
Last summer, I saw a small community of Green Parrots living inside of a Saguaro Cactus in my parents subdivision in Phoenix (Mesa, actually). Now it’s hot and mostly dry there – maybe 110 degrees (f) – but there’s a golf course that runs through the community that has automatic sprinkler system providing water. Anyway, they are large birds and I saw them flying around (or so I thought) quite a bit.
The parrots had yellowish hue on their breasts, so slightly different than the one you show here. Still, flying they look the same. Surprised to see them there. I remember reading somewhere that parrots are very smart birds, maybe the I.Q. of a 5 year old. So perhaps that explains their ability to survive in an exotic climate.