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.

Still Dipping

Another set of photos of the Brown Dipper (Cinclus pallasii) from Oyukaeri-kawa. This one was taken on the morning of November 28. This time I brought the external flash with me and used it to photograph the bird. I found that it really helped open up the details in the dark feathers of the bird. But there's still one problem I'm still struggling about, the problem of angle. Because the area is very limited, there's only a few places where I can sit and wait for the bird, while it can't notice me. All of the places are high up in the river bank, 2 or 3 metres above the river, so I just couldn't get any low angle shot of the bird. I can't use very low speed to make the water smooth as well, as the bird is always active. This is the only problem I've got to solve!

Brown Dipper (Cinclus pallasii pallasii)

You can tell it quite easily which photos used and didn't use flash. The bird's plumage looks really dark without flash light. With flash, the dark chocolate brown pigment of the feathers is brightened up. There are actually several open perches where the bird often perches on, but it is very difficult to get close to the bird while it is perching in the open. I think it would be a bit easier if I use a hide. The thing is I don't have one.

Working On It

Last week saw me repeatedly visiting Oyukaeri Kawa (おゆかえり川) in Asami 3 Chou-me almost every afternoon. The place is far from my place and I had to walk a long way to get there, but I still wanted to go because of one little bird, the Brown Dipper (Cinclus pallasii). Although considered a common species in Japan, it is an extremely rare vagrant with no single record in the recent decades in Thailand, so I was really excited to see it. I've actually seen the bird many times before in India, but I still couldn't get any decent shot of it. The Brown Dipper in India is also a different subspecies from the one in Japan, C.p.tenuirostris is the Indian subspecies, while C.p.pallasii is the Japanese one.

Brown Dipper (Cinclus pallasii pallasii)

There were 2 individuals living along the Oyukaeri river, one on the upper stream, and another one around the lower stream. I only concentrated on the latter because the former was much shier and harder to photograph. Although it was not difficult to find the birds, it was super difficult to get close to them. Though I said that the one in the lower stream was less shy, I didn't mean that it wasn't shy at all. I had to hide and wait for them for hours just to get a few shots. I often walk to the area around 11 after checking Beppu Koen, and finish as the sun set behind the mountain around 2:30. I noticed that when it starts to get darker, the bird seems to be less wary and comes out to the open to preen and bath, but that also means that the light is not good. I still haven't got the most satisfiable shot so far, so I still have to work on it. Or maybe I'll have to wait until spring, when the birds breed and nest.

Twitcher

I hadn't been to Beppu Koen for such a long time, until yesterday. While I was walking to Sekino-E on the evening of Sunday 21 November, I came across Furuso-san who was about to leave the place. She excitingly told me that yesterday she found a flock of Eurasian Siskins (Carduelis spinus) at Beppu Koen, and showed me the photos of them. I know most of you wouldn't be excited about this, but I was. I've never seen a Siskin before and from the expression of Furuso-san, I can be sure that it is not something ordinary for her, and Beppu as well. So I hurried to Beppu Koen on the morning of Tuesday 23 in search of the Siskins. From the photos in Furuso-san's camera, I could recognise the place where the birds gathered. It was a tree near a small stream where most of the finches like to come down to drink and bath. After I arrived at the park, I walked straight to the stream and sat down and waited for them. After a while, I spotted a large flock of small birds came swirling passed over my head and landed near the big pond in front of the park. I was sure that were them, so I ran right to the pond, and on the dead treetop, there were more than 50 of these small Eurasian Siskins, my latest lifer!

Eurasian Siskin (Carduelis spinus)

I tried to take photos of them while they're drinking water from the pond, but they were so wary and flew off before I could get any decent shot. They're much more approachable and still while perching on the trees. There were several of their favourite perches. One is near the small stream and another two on the different sides of the pond. They always perched on these trees before coming down to drink. The tree near the stream was also fruiting, and they seemed to enjoy eating the fruits.