Birding in Tama
I went out today to see if I couldn’t get some birding done. Since I got the 10x Canon digicam, it’s a lot easier to take photos of the local wildlife as you don’t have to get too close to get a good shot. In particular, I’ve been wanting to get a good shot of a Wagtail, a nice black-and-white bird I’ve seen around town for some time, but have never gotten a decent snap of. So I went to the neighborhood park and to the Tama River to see what I could find. Here are the results:
When I first arrived at the local park, I saw a small flock of these birds, which resembled sparrows or chickadees. It is, in fact, the Great Tit (hey, I don’t make up these names); this is the best shot I could get of one. Despite hanging back to a distance of 10 meters or more, the birds were all rather skittish, and it was hard to get a good, clean shot.
The next bird was a pleasant surprise:
This is a Red-flanked Bluetail, also known as an Orange-flanked Bush-Robin. I was surprised to see such a colorful bird, though at first I didn’t even notice the flash of blue in the tail, or even the yellow spot under the wing:
This next bird is common enough:
The Jungle Crow, which sometimes seems to me like it’s got hair around its beak. These are big, loud pests all throughout Tokyo, cawing from the first stroke of dawn, and getting into the garbage left out for pickup and making a mess of it. Huge birds, these, and sometimes quite bold.
This bird was a bit of a surprise: the Brown-eared Bulbul. Never heard of it before, and had a bit of trouble identifying it, but there it was. A pair, actually, resting in a tree. Its feathers can stand out and look spiky at times.
This pretty little fellow had me fooled for a while–I thought it was some kind of wagtail–but it’s not, it’s a Dusky Thrush. I found it hopping along the ground outside the local tennis courts, cocking its head to listen for insects in the grass.
Then there were the usual ubiquitous Tree Sparrows, one of which I caught in flapping motion:
And finally, down near the river, gliding quietly atop the wind, a trio of Black Kites. Though I only caught solo photos, the three sometimes met up and tangled in the air–shots I missed and wished I hadn’t.
Not at all a bad collection for just spending a few hours within a kilometer of home. I never did get a Wagtail–next time, maybe–but I was pleasantly surprised by the variety I found. I always considered local birds to be limited to just a few–crows, sparrows, pigeons, and the occasional Wagtail or Kite. But looking at a variety of birding sites in Japan, it seems like there is a lot more out there than those birds and the Bluetail, Bulbul, Tit and Thrush. Come to think of it, we do get some Swallows from time to time–but they’re very hard to catch in flight.
The photos, by the way, are generally not reduced much in size, if at all–many are just cropped, and some are cropped and reduced.
I’m hoping to get out a bit more often, see if I can’t find some good birding spots, and get some more photos. Who knows, this could even turn into a hobby again–I used to belong to the Audubon Society when I was a kid.
Hey Luis, nice tit!
Sorry ’bout that, but seeing your photos got me excited. I finally ordered the Lumix DMC-FZ20 from kakaku.com for ¥51,000 and it should arrive tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to taking some photos of the birds in my neighbours back yard with its 12x zoom. I live on the 4th floor so we get … ahem… a bird’s eye view of their huge garden. I’ve seen all the ones you posted except for the bluetail. The other one I really like is the azure-winged magpie which usually appear in flocks in my neighbour’s pond. I’ll send you some pics so we can see who’s got the biggest… err… zoom. 😉
Keep up the great blogging!
Great news, Andrew! Say, which part of Japan do you live in? I forget if you mentioned. I ask because if there are any Azure-winged Magpies around the Tokyo area, I’d sure love to catch them sometime. But the thing about the pond made me remember that bodies of water usually attract more birds–I’ll have to check out my area and see if there are any notable ponds or small lakes in the area.
I’ll look forward to getting some photos from you, and maybe I’ll post them here as well. As for the difference between the zooms, yours will be a bit better, but probably not by too much–the difference proportionally would be less than that between a 3x and a 4x zoom. Not to say that I wouldn’t mind having the extra 2x, though! BTW, I find that I am sometimes using the digital zoom as well; though quality suffers a bit, there is some actual payoff to be found–though a slim margin, I’ll admit.
Love the pictures, it’s as close as I’ll get to visiting, your beautiful country.
I find your comments on the Jungle Crow, quite interesting in comparison to others…Just observing an universal reaction…description very harsh…but consistent.
Ever wonder …Why ..????
the black Bird with the “hairs on its beek” called the “Jungle Crow”…identfying with savage not tropical. Other examples, Africanize Bee…Verses the European Bee identical in appearance, however the Africanize Bee is certainly more lethal while the European Bee is less aggressive not harmful…location has no relevancy in the name title, Brown Bear vs Black Bear small variance in description identical same pattern…Black much more aggressive and lacking in intelligence . Brown Bear more docile not aggressive it would be call a White bear if could …Polar Bears an obvious difference of local. Black Rhinos vs White Rhinos(indentical w/exception lack of pigment on horn area…few minor spots, this makes it a white rhino which inturn gives it automatic benevolence and intelligence vs the solid black rhino more aggressive ane un-wielding. Of couse I do expect and except the fact my observations will be demonized by the mass. To be made trivial and dismissive. Typical response… truthful observation shouldn’t make people so uncomfortable…
Good Food for the Soul. “Know Thyself”
Malkuth
from
Inglewood Calif.
Peace unto you.
Oh, please. That is an unadulterated insult to me, to imply that my not liking crows is equivalent to racism. I did not give them the name “jungle” crows, that’s simply what they’re called, and they would be no less annoying if they wore white feathers instead of black. A lot of white pigeons inhabit these parts, and people find them just as annoying. And the “hairy” comment–how the hell is that supposed to tie into the race comparison? I’m white, and I’ll wager I got way more hair around my quite considerable beak than you do.
The fact is, the crows around here get into the garbage and make a big mess, and their loud cawing in the morning is less than a pleasing sound. I’ll be damned if I’ll accept criticism for not liking them for such traits, simply because of the color of their feathers and thir taxonomical designation.
If there are some who make such comparisons so as to breed racial hostilities, then they must undoubtedly sound as ridiculous and offensive as you do here, “peace be unto you” notwithstanding. If you had read this blog and the posts I have made on the topic more closely, you would cringe at your own judgmental “Know Thyself” crack.
Nice photos! were any of them taken with the 1.6 converter? I found your blog while trying to find some info on the pros and cons of using a teleconverter with the powershot S1 IS. My main interest is in using it for photographing birds, and your site was a real find for me. If you have any more info or pics feel free to email me with them.
Thanks for what you have done so far and keep up the good work – Robert
Robert: None of the photos in this entry were taken with the teleconverter; I got it April 6, so only bird photos after that were using the converter.
I’d say go for it, it’s just about right for performance vs. tradeoff. I made two full blog entries on the converter, and they are part of this category:
http://www.blogd.com/archives/cat_birdwatching_in_japan.html
All my bird photos are in there as well, of course.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Dear Photographer,
Loved the pictures, lots of birds I have not seen good pictures of before. I am giving a talk on chat and thrush identification, could I please use some of your images?
Thanks you
David Darrell-Lambert
David:
If it’s just a talk with slides, sure, go ahead. Though I’m sure that if you search on the Internet (Google Image Search), you’ll find a lot more and probably better images…