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Ewww

October 22nd, 2006 2 comments

I hate bugs. Most of them, that is. Butterflies I like, moths are OK, and stuff like ladybugs and pill-bugs I can tolerate. But most of ’em creep me out, big time. Like the one time a 5-inch-long spider started crawling across my bedroom. And that’s the strange thing–they always show up in my bedroom. Not the kitchen. Okay, the one time in 6 years in this apartment when I saw a cockroach (big one, too) it was in my living room. But the portal of preference is, it seems, the bedroom.

Tonight, it was a centipede. So, okay, it was a 2-and-a-half-inch centipede, small by some standards. But the thing moved fast, had all that creepy leg action, and showed up on my bed. And it was hyper, moving like it was on speed or something. Like that’s all I need, to see a big bug that loves dark crevices crawling right where my ear canal would be if I were sleeping. Sorry, but that just sends me up the wall.

At first, it seemed like it would get away. I had nothing to capture or kill it with and it was quickly running to the edge of the bed. It got on the floor before I could grab a bowl it would be trapped in, and I thought it had gotten away twice before I finally cornered it.

For those of who who either like bugs, or like being creeped out by them, there’s a picture and a movie of the thing below the fold.
Read more…

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Weekend Cat Blogging

October 8th, 2006 2 comments

Okay, it should be Friday–actually, it was Friday, in the U.S., when I took these photos–but the kittens didn’t present themselves until this afternoon. It’s not certain if the cats are noraneko (strays) or kept pets, as there are some local strays. One of them had a collar, which read just “Chibi” (“runt”), and they were approachable, so it’s likely they’re pets (even though the housing project forbids pets–a rule many ignore).

When I first saw them, I saw a group of kids admiring them, so naturally, the cats had retreated to the undercarriage of the closest car. But after the kids left, I was able to approach them and pet them for a little. They weren’t overly friendly, but they didn’t scatter if you approached slowly enough, something unusual in Japan, even for pet cats.

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All photos except the close-up of the black kitten can be enlarged if you click on them.

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There is one down point to having the kittens around: they love my scooter seat. There are several scooters that park in the bike port, some with larger and softer seats, but the cats always leave the most paw prints on mine, for some reason. The night before I took these photos, there was a big storm, so the bike seat was a lot muddier than it usually might be. The paw prints were even all over the bike’s dash, which was strange, as it it small, smooth, and angled, not easy to stand on even for a cat, I’d guess.

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A bit of unrelated cat language trivia: in the U.S., when we want to say that a space is small, we might use the expression “not enough room to swing a cat.” In Japan, the expression “neko no hitai” is used; literally, it means, “[as small as] a cat’s forehead.”

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Howard Has Company

August 28th, 2006 1 comment

I was walking by Howard’s Glen the other day with a friend to show them Howard when I noticed… several Howards. I hadn’t gone by for a while since I had gotten my fill of Howard pictures, but it appears that the Green Pheasant population of the glen has increased somewhat. First, my friend and I spotted at least two or three females in various places, and in addition to Howard, there was a new male–probably immature, as this one had no significant tail feathers to speak of (though I can’t find any mention of this variation through a brief search). I went back today with my camera and saw just two–a female and the new young male.

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The female, of course…

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After landing in the brush… more on that below

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Howard’s competition

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Not a good image, but it’s the best that shows the lack of tail feathers; compare with Howard’s

The two new birds were also a bit flighty–neither one stayed in sight for very long, unlike Howard, who is relatively tame. The male (let me call him “Henry”), in fact, came into view right under me from beneath the overpass, and then quickly ducked back after spotting me overhead. I was only able to get him later after he came out when I was momentarily elsewhere.

The female (call her “Henrietta,” a name my mom came up with a while back) was also shy. I got the second image of her, though, just as I was packing up to leave and noticed movement of branches in the brush. I’d never seen a pheasant anywhere but the ground before, but Henrietta had flown up into some low brush and was actually perching. After sitting there looking around for a minute, she walked along the branches to go under the leaf cover and disappeared–presumably to a nest or a night perch. Just a few minutes before, Henry had disappeared behind a small construction embankment and had similarly not come back out, probably also settling down.

In any case, I’ll have to start coming back to the glen more often to see who’s running around down there.

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Two Days in Karuizawa

August 22nd, 2006 5 comments

Sorry if I was late in getting the comments approved over the past few days, but I was in Karuizawa from mid-Sunday to late-afternoon Tuesday, and did not have Internet access in the interim. Either they don’t have Internet cafes in that resort town in Nagano, or nobody could point me to one. I had to get yesterday’s blog entry up remotely, and couldn’t really do much more (thanks to Shari for the help!).

Karuizawa was one of the locales for the ’98 Winter Olympics (remember the hot spring-enjoying monkeys?). It’s in Nagano prefecture, more of less in central Honshu, but is located closer to Tokyo than most of the district. The skiing in Winter and the moderate climate in summer bring a lot of tourists.

While there with a friend, we rented bicycles (a big thing in that town, apparently–tons of bike rental shops) and cycled around the city. We figured the whole course we took was about 25 km., a good deal on slight hills, so it was quite the workout. But there’s some lovely scenery there. The cool climate and abundance of tall trees makes the perfect setting for moss, and a large part of the city has a lush green carpet of the stuff–very pretty. Quite a few very nice summer homes up there, on large parcels of land for Japan.

There’s also a bit of European influence there; a lot of hotels and restaurants with British, French, and German themes (one taxi driver actually complained about it, saying he didn’t know what most of the names meant). Apparently, over the past 100 years, starting in the Meiji period, a lot of foreign visitors to Japan visited or even stayed for long periods in the city.

The hotel we stayed at (“La Colonia,” which I had to translate for the taxi driver) was a great last-minute booking–about $375 for a 3-day/2 night stay, including breakfast and dinner for two. That’s a lot cheaper than most places in the area, and the cooking was fantastic. If it wasn’t for the bike ride, I probably would have gained a few pounds. Each meal was four courses at least, and every dish was top-notch. In a Tokyo restaurant, I would have expectd to pay at least $150 for such a dinner for two, maybe more. So all in all, a good deal.

The weather could have been better, but we just ducked in between the rainstorms, until the very end, at least. There was good weather for the bike ride, but not so good for the morning and evening before and after. And just as we were enjoying a last-minute lunch before getting back on the bullet train to Tokyo, a heavy downpour started, as evidenced by these people running for cover from the park adjacent to the eatery (click for a larger view):

Our cafeteria was part of a large shopping mall just south of the station–with a 100- to 150-foot uncovered distance between the mall and the station. We waited as long as we could before risking missing our $50 reserved seats on the train, but the rain didn’t let up–so we rushed for the station, and got only partly soaked.

But all that notwithstanding, it was a fun trip. I usually don’t post photos of myself on the blog, but here are a few from the trip (for the most part, having fun with hats):


me partly soaked from running through the rain

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Lightning Round

August 18th, 2006 Comments off

That’s the one that got me, officer!

Okay, not the same one. A lightning storm started a while ago, and I got lucky and captures a few nice images. Not easy, when your camera spends 20 seconds processing a 15-second exposure. You have to be lucky about when the lightning strikes, and where.

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Here’s a close-up of the bolt:

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I just love this stuff–raw energy coursing through a dark sky. Less entertaining when it actually hits you, but hey.

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Mothra

August 16th, 2006 2 comments

OK, well, maybe it wasn’t that big. But still, a 4-inch-long moth is nonetheless pretty impressive. However, it’s not as pretty as this one was almost exactly three years ago (though they certainly appear to be related). I’m deeply unnerved by just about any insect bigger than one centimeter, and not too fond of the ones smaller than that, but for some reason winged insects are an exception. Not that I’d wait in line to have this bug crawling on my hand, but it certainly wouldn’t provoke the same reaction as a cockroach the same size would. Or a spider.

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Click for a larger image, if you like this kind of thing.

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Recent Birdwatching

August 1st, 2006 Comments off

I’ve been a bit negligent in posting my most recent birdwatching finds. Not much new, but a few okay photos from a recent visit to Oi Wild Bird Park and Kasai Rinkai. Some of these photos were taken the day I got hit by lightning; some are from my birdwatching a week after that.

First, the juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron I saw the last time, except now it’s taking up a new roost–and it turns out there are two of them. I found this out by pointing out one I’d found to a nice couple who were peering through the same blinds as I was. After a minute I discovered that they thought I was pointing to one close by, when actually I was trying to show them the one far away–I hadn’t noticed the close one. This is also the first time I’ve seen an immature Black-crowned roost on the pillars like this–they’d always been in the swampy area across the way, like they were the previous time I’d been there.

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Usually, the adults roost there, as in this photo from August last year:

There were many of the usual suspects as well, including a Kingfisher…

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Some Black-winged Stilts…

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Some Common Sandpipers…

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And some Little Terns:

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The terns are harder to get shots of, of course, as they tend to be always flying over the water; you can get them only when they hover before diving (note the bird looking down in most of the photos).

It was also a time for juvenile birds; the Heron above was just one example. The Wagtails are young–adults are sharply contrasted with white and black, but the juveniles are greyish in color:

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And you can spot young Little Grebes at this time of year as well, easy to spot with their striped heads:

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And even a Bull-headed Shrike that I happened upon seemed immature–note the spots on the top of the wings (the larger spot on the middle edge of the wings is one thing that identifies the bird), and the not-so-contrasted head markings–adults are more striking than this young fellow, which I happened upon by pure chance:

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One that was probably not young was also not a bird. Right in the middle of the lake, we spotted something–and a look at zoom showed a bump with two more bumps. A bullfrog, apparently–unless the lake has become populated with crocodiles…

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And finally, one of the more regular, but also striking birds in the Oi Park at this time of year, the Little Ringed Plover. In the first shot, I caught him with wings raised:

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And in these two shots, the little guy was very close up; click on the images for larger versions:

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Kasai Rinkai, July 8, 2006

July 9th, 2006 Comments off

I went to Kasai Rinkai with a friend again; this time I chalked up a new life bird. Actually, I had seen the Cattle Egret (Amasagi • アマサギ) before, but in captivity at a bird clinic in Yacho no Rakuen (Wild Birds’ Paradise). This time they were healthy and in the wild, at Kasai Rinkai, sitting in trees above the lake at the observation center (where the Cormorants are always hanging out).

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So chalk up one more life bird. And I owe thanks to a very nice couple who pointed them out to me–I might have missed them otherwise!–the Kawaharas. They spoke English very well, and are great guides for watching–I hope I run into them again. In the meantime, they run a very nice web site in English for Tokyo-area birders. They also gave me their cards, which had a sweet title for them in the upper-left corner: “a birding couple.”

In addition to the Cattle Egrets, we spotted an immature Black-crowned Night Heron, like I did last year:

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There was a nice-looking Grey Heron:

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A few Little Ringed Plovers:

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And a very pretty Black-winged Stilt:

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From what others told us, we missed a Yellow Bittern and a nice Kingfisher.

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The Quintessential Howard

June 28th, 2006 Comments off

Wow. I really got him good this time. Fantastic images, probably the best I’ll get. (Not to mention a sound file and a movie!) I got back from work early yesterday, arriving back in town a little past 4:00. I figured I’d stop by to see if I could catch Howard, seeing as how the light was very good. I went to the usual overpass and looked in the usual places in the little valley underneath, but I didn’t see him. I saw some Oriental Greenfinches, a few wagtails, some House Swifts (more on them later), and even heard a Zitting Cisticola, as I’ve seen (but not been able to photograph) along the Tama River. But no Howard, nor his mate, Henrietta.

And then I heard him. I’d never heard Howard calling before. It sounded like a timid Rooster with a hesitating call; one sharp cry, followed by another, followed by a double cry. Like, “ka! … ka! … ke-ka!” I caught it on digital audio; here is an mp3 of the call.

I looked over in the direction of the call, and there he was! I was on the wrong side of the sun, so I didn’t get a good shot at first…

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Howard seemed to be milling about in just one place, kind of on a ridge. It was in an area that was laying fallow for future construction, with levels along a gentle slope flattened out and ridges along their edges; Howard was along one of those edge ridges, above me. I was outside this area; from where I was on the regular walking areas, there was just no way to get a better view of him. So I climbed over a small, waist-high fence and entered the area. The idea was to walk around Howard so I could get a shot of him with the sun to my back, to get better colors. Then I’d close in, getting as near as he would let me. As I walked around the ridge area, I saw Howard’s tracks:

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Then I climbed up a ridge above Howard, and snuck up behind some tall straight bushes, between which I got what I considered to be a good shot (click to see 1100 x 700-pixel version):

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“Not bad!” I thought; it was about as good a shot as I had ever gotten of him. So then I figured I’d see how close I could get. I walked out from behind the bushes and snapped some more pictures; Howard just sat there, watching me. I climbed down the ridge to be at the same level as him; he didn’t seem to mind. Oh, he was cautiously giving me a good look-over, but I wasn’t making him nervous enough to leave yet. So I carefully walked not towards him, but more alongside him–and he let me get to within about 20 feet! That’s when I got these fantastic shots:

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Click the above photo for a 1280 x 854 wallpaper image, or click here for a giant, full-sized 1800 x 1240 version.

Here’s detail on Howard’s head from a different shot:

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To continue…

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Click the above photo for a 1280 x 1000 wallpaper image.

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Click the above photo for a 1000 x 700-pixel image.

Here are a few cropped 450-pixel close-ups of the above photo, focusing on Howard’s head and back to show feathering details:

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Needless to say, I was very pleased with the quality of shots I got. I don’t think I’m ever going to get better shots than that, not without a much better camera and a big zoom lens.

I even took some movies, full-size and full-frame video. Here’s an iPod-ized version of 12 seconds of that video:

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It might play with iTunes; if it won’t play, or worse, gives you a page full of junk characters, then just download it (right-click and save target file) and see what media player can handle it. I know that QuickTime and VLC can, but I don’t know about Windows Media Player (I’m guessing that recent versions can). Sorry if the video wavers around somewhat–it was hand-held, fully zoomed-in, and I was a bit shaky from trying to hold really still in general.

Note that Howard is panting in the video quite a bit; it was hot out, and I was sweating a whole bunch too, mainly because I kept my leather jacket on as it had a pocket I could put my camera in if I needed to use my hands for something else. When I got home, I was soaked, but it was well worth it. I certainly had come a long way in getting to know Howard since I first spotted him a month and a half ago.

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Again with Howard

June 24th, 2006 Comments off

Okay, maybe you’re getting a bit tired of Howard, but I think he’s a lovely bird. I went down earlier in the afternoon this time, around 3:00, and there he was, as always. It is overcast today, but still, I got a few very good shots of him, both with 1000-pixel blow-ups if you click on the images this time. You can really see his colors well in the second shot.

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Howard

June 23rd, 2006 Comments off

I’ve decided to call him Howard. No reason, it’s just the first name that came to mind. Howard, it appears, just loves that field. So far, every time I’ve gone to look, Howard is there. The other day, Howard was there with his mate (no name yet), but I didn’t have the camera then. Too bad, they were right below me that time. So far, I’ve only gone in the evening, after 5:00–which is why some of these photos are not the best quality, there’s not enough light. I’ll have to try earlier in the daytime and see if he’s around then as well.

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More Green Pheasant

June 20th, 2006 Comments off

At about 6:00 pm yesterday evening I went down to the empty field where I’d spotted the pheasant before, figuring I might get another shot–and what do you know, but there he was. And this time I got some good shots. The last in this series is the best by far, with a great 1280×854-pixel blow-up when you click it.

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The one above I got from the overpass, like I did last time. Then I went into the construction site itself, after the bird had hopped away up a hill towards an access road. Along the way, I got muddy feet, one foot submerged in wet mud ankle-deep, when I saw what looked like some sort of plover fly in–but was not able to get a shot in. But I did catch the pheasant, coming toward me this time:

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As you can see, he’s crouched down. Like with the very first time I saw him, it’s a defense posture. This time, however, he was in plain sight on a hillside, so it allowed for a few nice shots. Eventually, he figured I was not a threat, and so got up again.

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But this one was the best shot, as I was able to catch the bird at the hilltop, with a nice focus contrast of the hills in the background. Again, remember to click to see the full-sized shot.

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Japanese Green Pheasant

June 12th, 2006 Comments off

I decided to get a bit of casual birdwatching in today, without expecting much of a return. Mostly I just wanted to explore a bit of town that I hadn’t looked at yet. On my way back, I decided to scan the open, undeveloped fields in town to see if I could catch sight of a pheasant–and I got lucky! These are my best shots so far (as poor as they are) of the lovely male Japanese Green Pheasant that I kind of got a while back–but it was too dark. A beautiful bird, lovely plumage.

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You can click on that last one for a larger image.

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Kasai Rinkai, Golden Week

May 9th, 2006 1 comment

Last week I was able to go to Kasai Rinkai for some birdwatching with a friend. I managed to get two more life birds, and spotted some old acquaintances. The two I got for the first time were the Dunlin and the Whimbrel.

There were a lot of Dunlins running around. Cute little buggers; I like the black patch on their bellies.

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Click for larger view

The other new bird was the Whimbrel, similar in some ways to Curlews.

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There may actually have been a third new species, but I am unsure–it’s so similar to several birds in the sandpiper family, it’s hard to tell. I’m going to have to get an outside opinion on this one:

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Among those I’ve spotted before were Black-winged Stilts…

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…Little Ringed Plovers–these two in the first photo almost seemed to be doing a courtship ritual…

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Click for larger view

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Then there were a few Terek Sandpipers…

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…and a Ruddy Turnstone–in this shot presenting an interesting view, even if you can’t figure out where its head is…

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There was also a Grey-tailed Tattler:

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And I got an interesting shot of a Little Egret, with its cowlick looking funny (and note the purple coloring at the base of the bill):

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Click for larger view

There were more that I didn’t get to photograph, including some Little Terns and Common Snipes. Then there were the more common birds, including Spot-billed Ducks, Great Egrets (though one lady claimed one was an Intermediate Egret), Grey Herons, Crows, Bulbuls, Starlings, Tree Sparrows, Cormorants, Little Grebes, Oriental Turtle Doves, Wagtails, and Barn Swallows.

So, more than 20 birds in one outing, even if more than half were commonplace. Not bad at all. Oh, and I got a special treat this morning–a Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker was on a tree right in front of my work this morning, in the middle of Shinjuku, pretty far from any parkland. Interesting.

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Japanese (Green) Pheasant

May 6th, 2006 Comments off

This is a bird that I already got a little while ago, though I only found females, whose plumage is not nearly as impressive as the males’. Unfortunately, while I spotted and photographed a male, it was so late and dark that a good, clear photo wasn’t possible. I was out in the town checking out a new road constructed through the area when I spotted the pheasant flying behind an embankment bordering on some homes situated about 20 feet lower than the street level. At first glance, I thought it was a crow or some other common bird, but for the second I saw it, the long tail was evident enough to catch my interest. When I came down to where it had settled, I saw it was indeed a male Japanese Pheasant (キジ).

On the one hand, this bird didn’t scare easily. A lot of birds will fly off when they see that you’re looking at them and get within twenty or thirty meters of them. This one allowed me to get within about five meters–but it didn’t give me a good view. Apparently, the bird has good hiding instincts. As long as it was aware that I was nearby, it ducked down and huddled in the tall grass, ergo the obstructed images below. I was, at least, able to get close enough to use my camera’s flash; Photoshop brought the images the rest of the way to clarity.

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Unable to get good lighting without the flash, and since the flash kept scaring the bird into hiding, I tried taking a movie of it. The light is not so great, but the bird did stop hiding and moved around some. In a way, you can see it better. The image below is linked to the MP4 movie, 1.9MB, 44 sec. Right-click the image to download the movie to watch it from your desktop.

Phsnt

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Light Birding

April 14th, 2006 5 comments

This just must not be a very good time for birding. I’m going out there, but I’m not finding much. No life birds, of course, but not much in the way of birds at all. My luck has been especially poor at the Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park; seems like every time I’ve been there for a long time now, I’ve come up dry, or nearly so. Just a long trip, some walking, and butkus. I finally came up with the idea of calling in first, and asking if the birds are out there–but only after I went this time. What I’d like to suggest next time is that they do a mailing list, if they have computers in the observation center. They could set up a mailing list which people could subscribe to automatically. Then, when the volunteers in the center saw a good number of birds, they could send out a mailing. Birdwatchers with an eye on their computers would get notice that it was a good time to go to the park. Alternately, they could send out regular messages two or three times a day listing the birds spotted at the time. The upside would be that they would get more visitors when there were birds. The downside, I suppose, is that attendance (and income from fees) would drop when birds were scarce. Still, I’m going to suggest it to them.

Actually, this trip was worse than usual: I headed out to the park on my scooter on Thursday, and fifteen minutes out from the park, my bike broke down. I thought it just ran out of gas, so I pushed it up a hill to the nearest gas station. But after filling it up, it still wouldn’t work. So I pushed it down the same hill and up another to a bike shop, and they tried changing the spark plug, to no avail; they said the wiring was probably bad, and being a Yamaha shop (mine’s a Suzuki), they couldn’t fix it. So I called the chain I bought the bike from, and they came and picked the bike up and dropped me off at the nearest station to get home. Turned out that the bike had been on recall for three different issues, and my bike broke down due to one of them. That’s nice. Good of them to call me up and tell me about it. Instead, they leave me to break down and waste a whole day.

In any case, they fixed all three issues, and so I had to take the bus and train to Kawasaki City, then walk a distance to pick up the bike–always fun when your foot is still healing from a bone break. After picking up the bike, I figured I was close enough to the mouth of the Tama River to check it out. Good thing, too–it was the best birding area I had been to all week. I didn’t see anything new (I think), but did see new plumage on an old find. Specifically, the Black-headed Gull:

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Before, I had only seen them like this:

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There was a whole flock of them further out, in fact, in various degrees of plumage change:

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There were also a few other gulls. These two I caught together, for an interesting contrast in their size:

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I think the big one is a Herring Gull, but am unsure about the lesser one. Could be any one of several species, an immature gull I suppose. I’ll try to find out which one somehow.

Other than the gulls, there really wasn’t much out there. Cormorants galore. Various ducks, mostly Spot-billeds, Tufteds, Widgeons, and some Teals. I spotted but could not photograph a Little Tern. The Dusky Thrushes are back. The Brown-eared Bulbuls and White-cheeked Starlings are freakin’ everywhere. And that’s just about it.

Aside from birds, there were a few other things. When my bike broke down, it was near a small park with a pond. In the pond were turtles (fairly common in these parts), but this one seemed unusually relaxed:

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And when my bike broke down and I was pushing it up that hill, I passed a girl walking her pet. But the pet made me do a double-take: it was a monkey. Not too often do you see a girl walking a monkey on the streets of Tokyo. Later, when I was in the park, I ran across her again; she had met up with a guy who also had a monkey, a younger one. The two monkeys were cuddled together for a rest, and looked quite charming.

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Local Park, Tama River

March 30th, 2006 1 comment

As the last installment of my past month of birdwatching, this one catches up to today. First I went to the hilly park around the corner from my apartment building, hoping to see the Red-Flanked Bluetails I spotted a year ago. No luck on that, though I did catch some Japanese White-eyes attracted to the blossoming trees…

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…and some Oriental Greenfinches.

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I also saw some Tree Sparrows, White Wagtails, crows, a variety of ducks, some Egrets (Little, Great, and Grey), some ubiquitous White-cheeked Starlings and a Thrush–I’m pretty sure it was a Dusky, but a construction traffic guard, apparently bored and wanting something to do, flushed off the bird when he came up to me to tell me to be careful of trucks passing by (which there were none, and not as if I wouldn’t have noticed them coming).

But I did see get one other bird that I’ll have to have checked out by people who know more than I do. The bird first appeared above me, chattering away, almost hovering–it didn’t fly off in any direction, but just tread the air, slowly drifting up and up in what appeared to be a courting display of some sort. After maybe five minutes, it dived down and landed on the river bed nearby. I saw it land, but its coloring was so perfect a camouflage, it immediately became invisible to the eye. But since I knew where it landed, I zoomed in and snapped several shots blindly, and got these pictures:

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Now, I think that’s a Eurasian Skylark… but I’m going to have to have that checked. It’s missing the usual crest, but otherwise it seems to be spot on. But this is a tricky one to identify.

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Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park

March 29th, 2006 Comments off

Last week, I finally got around to going to the Oi Park. As usual, few shorebirds were there–seems to be the norm for my visits. I’m told that April will see more birds there–but then, my first visit was April 15 last year, and there were few birds there–a swallow and a plover, aside from the ever-obligatory cormorants. Hopefully, I’ll be luckier this year. But not so far. Still, the lack of water birds didn’t mean there was nothing there. I did actually get a new life bird:

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That is a Daurian Redstart. A female alone, unfortunately–the males are much more colorful, with a full red breast, black back and face and a white cap. What marks this bird as a Daurian is the white patch on the wing. This bird is related to one of my first finds a bit more than a year ago, the Red-flanked Bluetail. Both birds are about the same size and shape.

Actually, there was one other life bird, though I’d seen it before. I simply had not been able to identify it with certainty. It’s the Buff-bellied Pipit (also called the Water Pipit):

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Also at the park, but not pictured here because I so recently showed them elsewhere, were Tufted and Spot-billed Ducks, Pochards, Mallards, and Northern Pintails, as well as Coots and Moorhens, Cormorants, Bulbuls, and Wagtails. There was also a Kingfisher, an Oriental Greenfinch, and a Grey Heron, not shown here because I couldn’t get decent shots.

There was one bird that I couldn’t get a good shot of because it was maybe half a kilometer away, across the park. I did manage to shoot an image through an available spotting scope to get enough of a shot of this Northern Goshawk:

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There was also a Herring Gull, though this one was on a rock in the Tama River, I spotted on the way in:

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Near the gull was a wagtail, this one the less common Japanese Wagtail, with the black head and white brow:

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On my way out of the park, I saw a few Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers in the trees:

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And almost as if to console me for not seeing so many nice birds, a big flock of Azure-winged Magpies escorted me out of the park, flying and perching right above me for the last hundred meters and more to the exit.

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One other note: there are cats in the park, which when you think about it, is kind of natural. But this one cat was super-friendly. It walked straight up to me and demanded to be petted. After giving it a good neck-scratch and petting, I got back to the birdwatching. And the cat not only followed, it jumped up onto any available surface near my hands and started going back and forth. When I walked away, it chased after me, walking between my legs. Probably the friendliest cat I’ve ever met in Japan–or perhaps the most attention-starved. I practically had to run off to leave it behind.

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Inogashira Park, Near Spring

March 28th, 2006 Comments off

Inogashira Park is always good for birding, if only sometimes for ducks. It’s also good for up-close birding, as the birds get fed by visitors regularly, and so are fine with people getting close to them. That allows for good, up-close photos.

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One duck that is commonly found at Inogashira is the Mandarin, a very colorful drake along the lines of the Wood or Harlequin Ducks. Mandarins at Inogashira tend to gather right off a little, off-the-main-walkway path at the far west end of the park’s lake. Go along this path, and you can practically walk right up to them. They often rest in mating pairs on low branches near the water, and immature ducks can be seen as well.

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Although not great in number, Cormorants can also be seen. This one below is doing what a lot of Cormorants do, holding out its wings in the breeze. A Cormorant’s feathers are not fully waterproof, so it must do this after swimming in order to dry off.

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A common duck at Inogashira is the Tufted Duck:

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The first is a drake, the second a hen. Both have the crest, but the male’s is much more in the style of Elvis.

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The Northern Pintail is easy to spot; it’s a larger though more slender duck, with the namesake tail.

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The Northern Shoveler is also easy to spot; it may have a superficial resemblance to a Mallard (see below), but the spoon-shaped bill and the beady yellow eyes are a giveaway.

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Rounding out the seven common Inogashira ducks (the Spot-billed is not pictured here) is the Common Pochard, similar to American Redheads or Canvasbacks, except for its bill, which has a black base and tip and a lighter color in between (the Redhead has only the black tip, and the Canvasback has an all-black bill).

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Swimming along with the ducks being fed along the main Inogashira Lake bridge was a Eurasian Coot. I’ve never seen one of these with the ducks at feeding before; usually they’re off at the west end by themselves.

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A relative to the Coot is the Common Moorhen, smaller and more colorful. These can often be spotted along the main bridge, though usually they hang back at the rear behind the feeding ducks.

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Finally, there’s the Little Grebe, a little fuzzball which can sometimes be seen at this park. This one came right up to a lakeside feeding area, to my surprise; usually they’re out on the lake doing their usual diving behavior.

Aside from these birds, there were the usual numerous crows, and you could easily hear the Brown-eared Bulbuls in the trees.

Next: the Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park.

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Recent Birdwatching

March 27th, 2006 Comments off

For the past one month, I’ve finally been getting back to birdwatching. The first return was a month and a few days ago, and I was still on crutches, but able to balance enough without them so I could take photos between walking from place to place on the Tama River. Since then, I’ve made it to Inogashira Park, Seiseki Sakuragaoka a few times, and to the Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park. I just never got around to posting any of the photos. I got a few Life Birds along the way, but mostly just revisited species I’d spotted many times before. Still, there was some good birding in there, and I’ll try to give a good sample of all the species. None of the photos in this series will have larger versions on clicking.

First, the late February Tama River birding. Along with the usual assortment of crows and sparrows, there were:

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Eurasian Wigeons. These Wigeons have been congregating at this particular stretch along the Tama River in Inagi since late last year. There are several dozen of the birds, always in the same spot.

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And of course, the Great Cormorants. These birds are present in the area year-round, and were among the first birds I spotted when I started birdwatching here a little more than a year ago. These big fellas are almost as ubiquitous as the crows, but not quite. Still, you see them everywhere along the river and the bay.

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Not quite as numerous but still nice to see are the Green Winged Teals. Pretty birds. Although Inogashira Park is flush with ducks, neither the Teals nor the Wigeons show up there, for some reason–but they are usual visitors to this part of the Tama River in Inagi.

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Even more ubiquitous than the Cormorants are the inevitable Spot-billed Ducks. If you see a duck in Japan, odds are it’s one of these.

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Less expected was a small group of Little Grebes. I haven’t seen these guys so much on the Tama before, but they’ve been regulars here for the past month or longer.

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Returning after a short absence are the Egrets, in this image, a Little Egret (yellow feet). They’re always graceful and nice to see.

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And where there’s water, there are Wagtails–a White Wagtail, in this case, the more common type. Japanese Wagtails (similar, but with a black head and white brow stripe) are less common. Wagtails are easily spotted by their signature slow-wagging tail, as well as their swooping up-and-down flight path and their peep-peep! peep-peep! call.

Not an exceptionally exciting collection, but a nice welcome back to birdwatching. Next: Inogashira Park.

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