Oita River

January 2nd saw me catching a train to Oita since early morning. I wanted to take some photos of the tame ducks at the same spot I took last year. Unfortunately, the tide was too low and the ducks were all floating far in the middle of the river. A few Common Teals and Northern Shovelers were swimming around closely in the area though, but they happened to be so much shier than last year, so no photos taken. The weather was great, by the way. A bit windy, about 10km/hr, but not very cold, and the sun was shining brightly for most of the time too. There were lots of Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) roosting on the rocks along the river. As the sun slowly rose up, even more of them came flying in from the sea direction.

Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo)

I remember seeing the description for the Great Cormorant in a Japanese Bird Guide, which I borrowed from my birding pal, noting Oita Prefecture as one of the well-known breeding sites of this species in Japan. I think that's the only line where the name Oita is mentioned in the book. Anyway, that's just me trying to feel good about having just a few other birds to photograph on that morning other than the cormorants.

Beppu Ropeway viewing from Oita River

Even more photos of the Great Cormorants

Male Baikal Teals (Anas formosa)

Autumn Tattlers

These photos were taken during the last few weeks. There were several autumn Grey-tailed Tattlers residing in a small artificial river near my place along with a pair of Common Sandpiper and White Wagtails. The tattlers were all juveniles judging from the pale fringes on their upperwing coverts. I still haven't seen any non-breeding adult. These birds will come back all in full breeding plumage in spring.

Juvenile Grey-tailed Tattlers (Heteroscelus brevipes)

Non-breeding Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)

The weather changes quite often during the last two weeks. Some days were a bit cold, with so much raining, while some were very sunny or windy. All these changes made me feel sick, actually not just me, but a lot of people in the campus seemed to catch a cold. I already saw some Ginko trees shed their bright yellow leaves as well, but most of the others are still green. Hope the real bright weather of autumn arrives soon, I'm sick of dull overcast and rainy days.

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba lugens)

They caught small insects living under the surface.

Ducks have also arrived Beppu as well. Above is a flock of 17 Northern Pintails and 1 female Common Teal. The flock was flying from somewhere in northern direction and landed in the sea behind my dorm. I went to check the teals at Sekino-e the other day, but found that the fields were still full of lotuses, thus no birds could be seen. These lotuses should dry up in a week or two, then the farmers will clear them up, and now that's time for birding again.

Some more shots of the Common Sandpiper to end this entry

Excitement

Late spring has brought these Common Sandpipers in the river near my flat into fever. The couple you see below was very active in chasing and displaying all through the afternoon, while several other individuals nearby were still quite lazy. These small birds are difficult to approach but I did try my best.

The Little Ringed Plovers were still around as well as the new comer, the Grey-tailed Tattler, which I saw 3 birds feeding in the river area also. Photos of the tattlers will be up soon.