Goodbye 2010

It's about the time for New Year celebration, and here I've got some cheerful shots of the Black-headed Gulls (Larus ridibundus) in front of my dorm to cheer you all up for the upcoming 2011. These gulls gather around here every winter begging for food from tourists and local people. Still, they are not too aggressive and do not do any harm to us. I had a great morning photographing them closely with my wide angle lens. Hope 2011 will be bright and cheerful like the atmosphere in these photos here for all of you!

Black-headed Gulls (Larus ridibundus)

Happy New Year everyone!

Best of 2010 & Merry Christmas

The end of the year is drawing near and it's quite the time for me to reflect on what I have photographed so far throughout the year 2010. For me, it has been very productive year in terms of bird photography as well as bird watching. I've been more active in birding than the past 2 years living in Japan, and have discovered many more interesting places and species. I've also become much closer to the city I've been living in for more than 3 years, Beppu. I learned a lot about many other birding spots from Furuso-san, whom I've become much more familiar with towards the end of the year. So here we go, starting from January 2010!

January 1, 2010 saw me enjoying this tamest Siberian Rubythroat (Luscinia calliope) at Nam Kham Nature Reserve in Chiang Rai, Thailand. I went back home for New Year and had a real good time with family and friends. A short visit to Nam Kham was really productive and I got my first Chestnut-crowned Bush-Warbler (Cettia major) there, although only in hand while ringing. More detail about the trip can be seen here and here.

After coming back to Beppu, January still treated me with a nice number of Red-breasted Mergansers (Mergus serrator) in Rokushou-en and Spa Beach in front of my dorm. It's the first time for me to see these beautiful ducks and I've also got quite many photos of them in the evening light. More photos and story can be seen in this post.

Then February saw me packing my bags for the most highly anticipated trip to Eastern Hokkaido for the total length of 2 weeks. I visited Kushiro to see the Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonensis) first. The cranes have always been one of my dreams since before coming to Japan. I've actually never thought about seeing them with my own eyes. These birds are just amazing and I love every single moment I spent over there. More photos and story of the cranes can be seen here.

After visiting Kushiro, I went further north to the very famous eagle-watching village, Rausu. I spent two and a half days there and it was just fantastic! I've got a chance to go out into the sea twice and it was the day I fired the most shots in my life. The Steller's Sea-Eagles (Haliaeetus pelagicus) were just magnificent, as well as the smaller White-tailed Eagles. It is one of those experiences I won't be able to forget. More about this can be seen here in this post.
Then March came pretty fast and I'm back again to Thailand. One good thing about coming from Thailand is that it's not too far away from Japan, so I can go back and forth pretty often. My family made a trip to Phuket, a province in southern Thailand. I could do a little bit of birding around the resort and surprisingly found that it was actually very good. Above is a colourful male Pink-necked Green-Pigeon (Treron vernans), a species of doves which doesn't exist in northern Thailand where I live. There was a fairly large flock of this bird coming to the fruiting fig tree in front of the resort, so I could go out and take photos of them quite easily. More photos can be seen in this post.

Oita River

If you can still remember, I made a visit to Oita River earlier this month and found a small group of Baikal Teals around Onozuru area. This post will be about any other birds I found on that day. There was quite a good number of ducks, mainly Mallards and Common Teals. There were also a couple of Coots, a lone female Greater Scaup and a female Common Pochard, the 2 species I've never seen in Oita before. Apart from the ducks, the numbers of finches were also remarkable. There was quite a big flock of Eurasian Siskins feeding in a small grassy patch on the river side, as well as many dispersed flocks of the Grey-capped Greenfinches. This winter has proved to be good for Siskins.

A view of Oita River (大分川) from the bridge to Kaku (賀来)

It was the first time for me to catch a train from the South Exit of the Oita Station.

A flock of ducks in the river

I've got a few better flight shots of the Eurasian Siskins here.

There were several Little Grebes feeding in the water in front of my hiding place. These birds were too shy though. Even though I sat very still behind the bush waiting patiently, they never seemed to come any closer than 20-30 metres or so. Though the Little Grebes were a bit tamer than the ducks, they were still too small in size to fill in the frame. Hope next time I can get some better shots of them.

Life In The River

Still a post with old photos from the last few days of November. After finishing the siskins in Beppu Park, I always walked down to Oyukaeri River in Asami 3 Chou-me to photograph the Brown Dipper. Some day the dipper was so shy and I just couldn't get any slight shot of it, but for some, it became relatively much easier. At times when the dipper didn't come out easily for me to get photos, I killed my time by shooting other common objects like wagtails that were feeding in the same river. There were 3 species of wagtails, Japanese, Grey and White. The number of the Japanese Wagtail seemed to be the highest, then Grey and White Wagtail. However, the tamest was the Grey Wagtail which has yellow feathers up to its throat. If often came walking around 2 or 3 metres away in front of me. I really wish the dipper were as tame as this.

Non-breeding Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)

The most interesting one was this Motacilla alba alboides, a subspecies of White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) which is not so common here in Japan. Although I have seen this subspecies several times in Thailand during winter, I've never seen it in Japan before. The nominate race of White Wagtail in Japan is the subspecies M.a.lugens which has much more white on the head and neck. M.a.alboides interestingly looks much more like the local Japanese Wagtail (M. grandis).

Brown Dipper (Cinclus pallasii)

And of course, there are other birds other than the wagtails. A female Common Kingfisher was another regular visitor to the place where I waited for the dipper. Although I couldn't get any closer than 20 metres or so, I was quite satisfied with the birdscape shot I've got. A few Common Sandpipers were also walking along the river, as well as a small flock of Common Teals on the upper stream. I finally got some shots of the Brown Dipper in good light and out in the open, but a shame it was a bit too far away. I think I'll continue working on the dipper again in spring cos it's gotten really difficult for me to sit motionlessly on the river bank waiting for this plain little brown bird for hours in freezing temperature.

Beppu Park

It's been quite a long time since these photos were taken. The last few days of November saw me repeatedly visiting the local Beppu Park or Beppu Koen (別府公園) in Japanese. The main target for each visit was the large flock of Eurasian Siskins, a new species which seems to be so numerous this winter, as I've also seen a lot more in Oita. Last time I checked the park, which is on the last Wednesday, about 20+ birds were still around in the park. Though Furuso-san told me that there was also a Brambling in the park, I still couldn't find one. Bramblings are normally common in autumn, when a small number joins a flock of the commoner Grey-capped Greenfinches. I feel a bit weird not seeing Brambling this season. Apart from the finches, the number of thrushes were notable. Dusky and Pale Thrushes were all over the park. I wish this coming January brings in more Normann's and Dark-thraoted as it did earlier this year.

Eurasian Siskin (Carduelis spinus)

It's always entertaining to watch them swirling through the air in a massive number over the park. I tried to capture them in flight but found it very difficult to get a decent shot. Above is the only acceptable one. When they come down to perch on the open treetops before coming down to drink, they also look like yellow autumn leaves ready to be blown away by winter breeze. New arrivals of the park were 3-4 Olive-backed Pipits (Anthus hodgsoni) which were feeding along the small stream where the siskins often came down to drink. Other birds like the usual tits and wagtails were all showing well. Below are some of the shots I did.

Japanese Tit (Parus minor)

Non-breeding male White Wagtail (Motacilla alba lugens)