Thursday, May 27, 2010

The Three Companions

So this post is gonna be another post to clear up photos in my stock. These shots were all taken around Beppu Ropeway area. Tits are the most common yet very cute birds around here. I went to see the Varied Tit's nest I've found last time but seemed like the birds had already left it. However, another pair of Varied Tits was seen carrying some food into another nest box in the park near the cable car station.
This set of photos is the best I've ever get from the Varied Tit. There was another bird behind the one here. That individual had some kind of food in its beak but it was strangely doing a begging gesture towards this one. I've no idea what kind of message that bird was trying to say.

More from the same bird

Apart from the Varied Tit, I also got a very nice opportunity to photograph the Coal Tit which you might have seen earlier in this post. A pair of this bird tried to investigate me and my white Canon lens. They came in very close and I just had to put my camera down and watched them with bare eyes when they came too close for my lens to focus. One of the bird, which should be the male, was very busy finding food for another one. The male bird was also the one that often sings.

The last species of tit family I photographed that day is the super cute Long-tailed Tit. It was probably the most numerous species at the summit of Mt.Tsurumi. I always see a flock of this bird moving around in the forest behind the cable car station. However, I couldn't get many photos because it was too dark and the birds also moved very fast. So here are the only 2 acceptable shots I've got.

Other than the tits, birds around the park near the cable car station were very good. The same pair of Asian Brown Flycatcher was still staying around. I saw one bird brought food for another one. Not too soon, they must be nesting somewhere around here. A flock of Ryukyu Minivets was flying around as well. The birds kept staying only on high canopy, so I couldn't get any photo of them though. Japanese Grosbeak was quite numerous and all of them were moving in pairs. I saw a flock coming down to take bath at the waterhole too, but these birds are always too shy for me to get any shot at close range.

Asian Brown Flycatcher

A Japanese Grosbeak to finish off with.

4 comments:

Stuart Price said...

I have sympathy re Long Tailed Tits, you did pretty well though. I only have 3 or 4 acceptable shots of that species from the last 3 years!

Mark Young said...

Wow that Grosbeak looks like an interesting bird!

Phil Slade said...

Like Stu I find Long tails hard to capture and I dont have any acceptable pictures. The Varied Tit looks so colourful compared to the others and another Japanese Grosbeak would be great for next time.

Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok said...

Thanks everyone for the comments!
I'm still waiting to get a good chance to photograph the grosbeak once again.