Hayabusa

Yesterday, I visited Hamawaki to check if there's anything interesting or not. I unexpectedly met Furuso-san along the way, and she told me that a few days ago there was a Long-billed Plover at the river, but the bird has already gone. She also showed me photos of a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus japonensis) that seems to be staying in the area since autumn. I've seen the bird several times when I was going to work but never managed to photograph it. There was 4 Chinese Spot-billed Ducks resting at the river along with another Vega Gull. I checked the river mouth and found nothing but a flock of gulls including Black-tailed, Vega and 'taimyrensis' Gulls. There was a female domesticated Mallard staying at the port as well. I saw an old lady bringing some food for it and the cats that were staying nearby.

Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus japonensis)

I thought there wouldn't be anything else interesting, so I began to ride my bicycle back to my dorm. Then I thought, maybe I should at least try to look for the Peregrine Falcon because it should be staying somewhere in this area. I searched through the top of the buildings that it usually perched, but failed to find it. As I was riding my bicycle back along the street, I suddenly spotted a large greyish spot on the top of a mansion above the busy street. I knew exactly right then that it was the Peregrine Falcon that I was searching for. Unfortunately, the bird was way too high up on the building and it was also facing against the wall, so I could only get photos of its backside. It seemed to be very relaxed and kept preening from the time that I found it until the sun began to set. It didn't seem to be hungry or eager to hunt, or even to move, at all. Indeed, it was as if it just had a nice full meal and was getting ready to go to sleep.

Japanese people call Peregrine Falcon 'Hayabusa' which simply means 'falcon'. I personally think that it is one of the coolest Japanese names for birds. The sound of the name fits well to the appearance of this iconic bird of prey. Most Peregrine Falcons in Japan are of the resident race F.p.japonensis, but I believe that the Siberian Peregrine Falcon or the subspecies F.p.calidus also winters in Japan as well. These 2 subspecies are very similar and I didn't know how to distinguish each of them. So I consulted a raptor expert and got a few useful notes about how to distinguish the two. F.p.calidus normally has thinner moustache than F.p.japonensis (except female birds), with pure white breast unlike F.p.japonensis that usually has pale pinkish wash. The spots and barring patterns on the underparts are also different. F.p.japonensis has much more extensive barring starting from lower breast, while F.p.calidus has more restricted area of barring, mostly at the thighs. Judging from all these key features, the bird that I found here seems to be an F.p.japonensis, a resident and nominate race of Japan.

Mission Accomplished

After the short 2 posts below, here comes the full story of my 2-day mission at Shiraki from July 29 to July 30. So after my almost failed attempt to photograph the beautiful White-bellied Green-Pigeons (Treron sieboldii sieboldii) on July 29, I went back there again on the next afternoon. This time, I brought a photography hide I bought in Thailand with me, in the hope that the birds will eventually come closer. As I arrived at Shiraki around 3pm, I was surprised to see some stuff lying on the rocks below. There was a beach bench, some containers and a big umbrella. I scanned the area but saw no one. But then I spotted something moving in the sea close to the rocks, and I realised that there's someone snorkeling! I never expected someone to be snorkeling down here, where just going down from the highway is already life-risking. I think he must be some kind of a researcher rather than an amateur snorkeler. The only way to go down from the highway to the sea below is by climbing down a small ladder built by a homeless person living just below the highway. I even briefly saw him on both day, but he often disappeared after I saw him. I was actually a bit scared, but the desire to get good shots made me overcome the fear. So I set up a hide down there on the rock and waited for the bird. After waiting for about 20 minutes, the birds finally came circling above the hide and landed just about 10 metres away. I was so happy to see that the hide actually worked. The birds didn't seem to care much about the existence of the hide, and I could fire many shots before they quickly flew off as a juvenile Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus japonensis) came dashing in.

Male White-bellied Green-Pigeons (Treron sieboldii sieboldii)

Females are duller with no maroon patch on the shoulder

I even unconsciously held my breath while taking their photos when they came so close to the hide, afraid that they would fly away. It actually turned out that they didn't even care even when I panned my camera from left to right or up and down, so I felt so happy and relaxed while shooting them. More male birds came closer to the hide, so after I went back and checked the photos I've taken, I found that there are many more photos of the male birds than the females. Guess I have to focus more on the females when I go back there next time. It was so entertaining watching them swifting through the sky in large flocks and landed down on the rocks altogether. I also enjoyed looking at their eyes. They're just so amazing, with all those sky blue, deep blue and magenta layers. One of the most extraordinary eyes I've ever seen.

The problematic young Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus japonensis)

The setting sun really brought out the bright yellowish colour of the male.

Some more shots of the male birds

And the duller females

The birds seemed to like this spot.

The birds kept visiting the rocks until it got quite dark. Furuso-san was also there on July 30, and we watched the birds flying up and down the rocks until almost 7pm. It seems like they are most active around 5:30pm - 6:00pm. Unfortunately, I've already packed up my hide and climbed up to the highway since before 5:30, so when the birds began to gather in the greatest number, I was already high up on the road looking down at them with a sad face, as it's so difficult to go down there again.

Doi Angkang: 12-14 Aug 2010 I

So here's the full trip report for my visit to Doi Angkang during 12-14 August 2010. Alhough the weather was pretty much awful during the week before the trip, we occasionally had good periods of sunlight throughout the trip. We started off as we left Chiang Mai in the afternoon of the 12th and arrived safely at Doi Angkang around 4pm. We made the first stop at the viewpoint near the military base and saw a nice scenery of Fang town with a faint rainbow.

(From left to right) 1. Doi Luang Chiang Dao from the Chiang Dao city bypass 2. Birding in the pouring rain at Doi Angkang 3-4. Several pairs of Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler (Pomatorhinus erythrogenys) were found along the way especially around Ban Luang village.

We stayed the night in a small A-Frame house in Ang Kang health station's area. The next morning we found a flock of about 6 Striated Swallows (Hirundo striolata) perching on electrical wires in front of the station. We later found many these throughout the trip. Other birds that were seen around the station include Red-whiskered Bulbuls, Sooty-headed Bulbuls, Oriental Magpie-Robins and Spotted Doves.

We then moved to Ban Luang area for birding and luckily came across this young Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) perching on the roadside. The bird has reddish underparts with black cheeks indicating that it's a subspecies F.p.peregrinator. The bird later flew out and caught a couple of high flying butterflies, presumably Birdwing species (Troides spp.), but constantly dropped them off while eating in midair.

On the roadside near Ban Luang village, there was a fruiting tree which attracted many different species of birds, mainly bulbuls and this Dark-backed Sibia (Heterophasia melanoleuca). The bird has a remarkable thrilling call which can be heard easily throughout Doi Angkang. Other birds that came to feed were Crested Finchbill, Flavescent Bulbul, Sooty-headed Bulbul and Silver-eared(Chestnut-crowned) Laughingthrush.

We went for lunch at a small restaurant in Nor Lae village, which is pretty well known among birders in Chiang Mai. The restaurant's called Tama-Taté. After lunch, we did a small walk around an orchard inside the military camp nearby and found many small birds including the above 2 species of sunbirds. The bird in the big picture is an eclipse male Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis), while the other in the two smaller pics below is an eclipse male Purple Sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus). Though looking almost identical in eclipse plumage, you can see that the Olive-backed Sunbird has much yellower underparts, while the Purple's is dull greyish. The second pic of the bird also shows purplish-blue glossy feathers on its rump and tail indicating that it's a Purple not Olive-backed Sunbird.

Later we were chased by the rain and finally ended up chilling at the luxurious Royal Project's restaurant. From the restaurant, we saw many Red-whiskered Bulbuls which were posted earlier in this entry. Not only there were bulbuls, this beautiful male Black-throated Sunbird (Aethopyga saturata) was also flicking around as well. Unfortunately, due to very low light thus low speed shutter and the rapid movement of the bird, the above shot was the only shot that is acceptable.