Ducks in Ohori Park

January 1st in Fukuoka was overcast with constant showers. I went to a park called Ohori Park (大濠公園) which is located not very far from Tenjin Station. It is a big park with a large pond inside. Despite the rain, I was quite satisfied with the photos of ducks that I got during my brief visit. There were lots of Common Pochards (Aythya ferina) staying in the pond with a some 20 Tufted Ducks (Aythya fuligula). Some of them were really tame and even seemed to be asking for food. However, it seemed like the park doesn't encourage people to feed these ducks. There were signs telling what will be the negative impacts if the ducks are fed (for example, they will become so fat that they cannot walk!).

Part of the Ohori Park (大濠公園)

Male Common Pochard (Aythya ferina)

Since I've never got any decent shot of both Common Pochard and Tufted Duck, I enjoyed taking photos of them up close despite the rain. I think there were approximately 100 Common Pochards in the pond. Most of them were staying in the middle of the pond though, so I mainly focused on the ones that came to ask for food. It was interesting to see that most of them were males. I just realised once I got back to the hotel that I took very few photos of the females and they were not nearly as good as the males'.

Female Common Pochard (Aythya ferina)

Male Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)

There were much fewer Tufted Ducks in the pond but most of them were even more approachable than the pochards. Again, most of the were males with only a few female birds. I didn't even get any decent shot of the females. All of the them seemed to be pretty lazy and slept throughout most of the time, except for the ones that came begging for food. Because the light was really bad and it's really difficult to get the correct exposure, I decided to use flash which, as a result, helped bring up the feather details both in the shadow and highlight parts.

Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)

There were also many Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) staying in the pond as well. There was a large tree in the middle of the pond and it was all covered with cormorants' droppings. It was quite shocking for me, as I first thought that it was some kind of lichen. Other birds found in the park included a pair of Gadwalls, some Eurasian Wigeons, lots and lots of Black-headed Gulls and Mallards.

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.