In The Park

Photos taken from Beppu Park earlier this month. After the finding of the Ryukyu Minivet on January 12th, I went back again on the next morning hoping to get some better shots. The bird was nowhere to be found, by the way. So I spent time taking photos of other common birds around the park instead. I was surprise to see that a small flock of Eurasian Siskins was still lingering inside the park. I thought all of them have already moved further south. There were a few Hawfinches, as well as a pair of White-bellied Green Pigeons, of which I could almost take some nice photos while they were coming down to drink, but flew away just before I pressed the shutter button. Other stuff like Pale and Dusky Thrushes, Grey-capped Greenfinches and Daurian Redstarts were all presenting well as usual.

This male Daurian Redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus) was staying at the northeast gate of the park. It was so tame that I didn't have to crop all of the images above, well, simply because there's already no space to crop. It was foraging on fallen berries underneath a fruited tree. There were a few more individuals in the other areas of the park, but not as numerous as during the autumn passage.

Dusky Thrush (Turdus eunomus)
Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)

A flock of Eurasian Siskins (Carduelis spinus)

There seemed to be an influx of Olive-backed Pipits (Anthus hodgsoni) in the pine zones of the park. More than 10 birds were busy walking all over the ground looking for something to eat, not really sure what. I tried to photograph these birds and found it really difficult. They were all very energetic and didn't stop walking for even a second. I had to use flash to help make the photos sharper, since the area where they were feeding was very dark. Some of the birds looked really pale, while some looked much buffier. I wondered if a single or two Tree Pipits (Anthus trivialis) might have sneaked in, but after checking all of the photos, I found none.

Olive-backed Pipits (Anthus hodgsoni)

Late Spring

It's been a busy week since the school has started. This semester I've become busier than before and the weather sucked all through seven days. Now I'm still trying to recover from my sickness I've got from the campus. Everyone seemed to be sick because of the weather and there were lots of coughs and sneezes in the bus. Today, miraculously, the weather became fine once again. So I went to Minami Tatte-Ishi koen in the morning and took a long walk back to my dorm.

Brown-eared Bulbul

A male Pale Thrush

Dusky Thrush

White-cheeked Starling

Grey-capped Greenfinch

Despite the brilliant weather, not so many birds were showing in the park. The most interesting one being a male Brown-headed Thrush, which I've been seeking for in the previous visits. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any decent shot of it. No matter how hard I tried, the bird was far too shy to getting close. Actually it seems like there's been an influx of this species going on around Beppu, since I later found several more along the way back to my dorm. However, the best I could get of this thrush was this extra crappy crappy photo below.

Brown-headed Thrush

More Brown-eared Bulbul

And Pale Thrush

Oriental Bush Warbler

Japanese Wagtail courtship display

And my attempt to photograph a flying bat

A single Japanese Grosbeak showed up briefly in the park and disappeared before I could get any photo. Lots of Oriental Bush Warblers began to sing their sweet warbling songs and so as the white-eyes, swallows and wagtails. Tomorrow I'll go check some more spring migrants at Furui-chi. Hope there'll be something interesting.

Failed Attempt

After discovering the Japanese Grosbeaks in Minami Tatte-Ishi koen on April 3rd, the next morning I headed back again to the park. I easily located a pair of bird singing on a tall flowering tree, but the birds were too high for me to get any decent shot. They then flew into a thick tree and stayed there. Later I spotted a flock of 3 birds feeding on the ground with a single male Hawfinch nearby. The birds quickly flew out as soon as I tried to get closer to them. I followed them until they finally flew out of the park's area and that was the whole story of that day, another failed attempt for a bird.

The only shot before the birds flew out.

Brown-eared Bulbul

The cute Long-tailed Tit

A male Black-faced Bunting

A female Hawfinch

Pale Thrush

Apart from the grosbeak, the birds were actually pretty good. A wave of Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers, Long-tailed Tits and Japanese White-eyes moved around all over the park. I spotted a female White-bellied Green-Pigeon flew by rapidly. A pair of male Black-faced Buntings was feeding along low vegetation near the park entrance. They were shy as usual, but I could get some better photos of them. Hawfinch and Grey-capped Greenfinch were common as the day before, and the 2 thrushes plus White-cheeked Starling were abundant as always.

Good Birding Day

Today I tried to wake up early to catch up with sunrise and I almost succeeded. I've been waking up very late for many days now, so I think it's about time that I should do some morning birdwatch. So I finally got myself out of bed around 7:30 and one hour later I was arriving at Minami Tatte-Ishi koen. It was a beautiful morning I've been yearning for for so many days. The sky was clear and blue and the cherry blossom was still quite splendid.

I just love the feeling of spring!

Mt. Tsurumi

I have a feeling that there are more Pale Thrushes than Dusky here in Minami Tatte-Ishi park, unlike Beppu park, where Dusky Thrush is notably more numerous. I tried looking for Brown-headed Thrush, which I've seen a male bird once here, but couldn't find any. Few Hawfinches were also feeding on the ground side by side with the thrushes. I walked to the center zone of the park, then a bird of a bulbul-size flew up and perch on the dead tree top. I almost ignored it, but then the bird gave a very trange call which I've never heard before so I pointed my lens towards it and bingo! it's a male Japanese Grosbeak (Eophona personata), a species I've yet to photograph. The bird perched up there and sang its short sweet song, a song I've never expected to hear from a grosbeak!

A male Japanese Grosbeak

The birds fed on cherry seeds.

I later noticed that there were another 3-4 birds feeding on a cherry tree nearby. Though the birds were not so shy, but I was too nervous and there were too many people walking all over the place, which made the birds flew out every once in a while, so I had a very hard time photographing these birds, and I still feel unsatisfied about the results.

A pair of Oriental Turtle-Dove

A male Dusky Thrush

Brown-eared Bulbul was very numerous.

A breeding male Grey-capped Greenfinch

One shy male Daurian Redstart was still presenting in the park.

Pale Thrushes here are very tame!

A breeding male Hawfinch

Other than the grosbeak, which was simply the highlight of the day, the normal stuffs were still presenting very well. Long-tailed Tits were common and Japanese(Great) Tits were singing. A Common Kingfisher flashed by quickly as usual. Lots of Grey-capped Greenfinches, very vocal and surprisingly tame. Several Japanese/White/Grey Wagtails were in a small stream in the back of the park. Lots of Barn Swallows were catching insects along the stream and a pair Siberian Meadow Bunting was showing in a small reedbed nearby. Before leaving the park, I came across an approachable male Hawfinch, so I finally have some nice shots of the species.