I decided to take one last day trip to go birdwatching before my vacation ends next week. This time I figured I’d head down to the southern Kanagawa coast, visiting Enoshima and Kamakura. Kamakura was less than productive bird-wise, but Enoshima gave me a lot to look at. There wasn’t much variety, though; most of the birds one could see were Black-tailed Gulls and Black Kites, the latter of which were in surprising numbers. However, I’ll post on the hawks in another entry as there’s a lot to show. This one I want to showcase a new bird for me: the Blue Rock Thrush (Isohiyo-dori • イソヒヨドリ), which I spotted on the island Enoshima, a small resort island just off the Kanagawa coast.

These two photos really show up the thrush’s colors. The white edge to the feathers is not usual, or so it would seem from the many photos I’ve found of this bird; none had them like this. But it definitely is the Blue Rock Thrush, just perhaps still getting its colors in. The bird is usually blue with a red belly, the colors solid and a bit deeper than you see here. Females are brown, and there is a completely blue sub-species. Below is a female:

So a very interesting bird. Other than that and the Kites, there were a good number of Gulls, but most if not all were Black-tailed Gulls (in Japanese, “Umi-neko,” or “Sea-cat” likely because of their mewing calls). I’ve gotten them before, but there were a few new photos that came out well:

And a close-up, or unreduced image from that last one; note the back- and red-tipped bill.

Coming up: the Kites of Enoshima.