A Cold Morning

The night of Janaury 15th saw a minor snow storm hitting the little town of Beppu. By the morning of the 16th, the city was all covered with white sheet of snow, such a different view. It's not common for Beppu to have such scenery, and I was so excited and headed to Sekino-E to take some photos as soon as possible. I spent a few hours there taking photos of birds and scenery before going to the Mochi (rice cake) festival. My target for the day was actually to photograph the 2 Bean Geese in the snow, which would be something new to the collection, but unfortunately, they kept staying in the river and didn't come up to the snow covered field until the afternoon, when the snow has already melted.

A selection of shot photographed on the morning of Jan 16 and the night of Jan 15
A never before seen view of Sekino-E

Most part of the water in the field was frozen.

I was surprised to see the 2 Bean Geese flew up and circling around the area for about 3-4 times before landing down to the river again. They've never been active in flying before. Guess the spring migration is heating up and they feel the need to exercise... I tried to get some flight shots of them, but for some reasons I often couldn't catch up to them. They were really big, so when they came flying too close, I just couldn't fit them into the frame. Below are a few of the acceptable shots.

Tundra and Taiga Bean Goose

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)

A Cold Morning at Furui-chi

So I'm gonna finish up the photos from that visit on Sunday. It was a brilliant morning with beautiful sunlight, yet very very cold. It was so cold that the water in the lotus field was almost completely frozen, the first time for me as well to see frozen water pond. The Japanese Tits (Parus minor) were singing from high branches and electric poles and many Turtle-doves were flying around. Daffodils were everywhere and they really add a beautiful feeling to this already very lovely morning. A small flock of 3-4 Common Snipes (Gallinago gallinago) were gathering together in a small ice-free corner of the field and many were hiding along the dikes. I even saw one flying from nowhere then landed directly in the middle of the pond and funnily slipped on the ice. It must've thought that was water. A flock of about 20 White-cheeked Starlings was also feeding on a fruiting next to the railway, and a pair of male and female Bull-headed Shrike was also presenting around the lotus field.

The same pair of Black-eared Kite from the previous entry

A male Pale Thrush

A closer view of the Black-eared Kite

A group of Common Snipes

These snipes just had to wait until the ice completely melted.

A Japanese Tit (or Great Tit P.major minor)

I walked to the other side of the field to the Sekino-e(関の江) area and found a flock of Grey-capped Greenfinch feeding along with many Black-faced Buntings. I tried photographing them but these finches are always too shy to get good shots. Unlike the Black-faced, the Meadow Buntings around Sekino-e area were very approachable. They were all feeding in a small front yard of a house near the other APU's dorm. A male Black-faced Bunting also came aound but flew out too soon before I could get any better shot as usual. The teals were still around but in small number, didn't know where they've gone to. The surprise of the day was a flock of Reed Bunting in the small reedbed near the main road. This is the first time for me to see the species here in Beppu area.

A male Meadow Bunting

The only acceptable shot of the male Black-faced Bunting
Why can't they be all so tame like those Siberian Meadows?

A male Grey-capped Greenfinch

And a record shot of the Reed Bunting in Beppu!

The Common Snipe

Not much to talk about actually, just a series of photos of the same Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) from the day at Furui-chi. The bird was shy at first, but after it got a pretty comfortable bed on the dike, it suddenly changed into a lazy and tame bird. Snipes are one of my all time favorites, I love their unpredictability so I have no problem sitting still watching it for hours. No matter how common they are, I still love them! The Snipes!!!

The bird was scared by the crab(!) and sprang itself up showing white underwing coverts.

And this is what I've been waiting for. On a sunny day after the rain like this, snipes will tend to do sunbathing, showing off their secret marks, the tail!

Note thicker dark lines on forehead than Pintail/Swinhoe's

And here it was scared again by the strange turtle.

Showing off another identification mark, the whitish underwings

The shots before it disappeared into thick lotus field