Hot Days Begin

Winter clothes are all packed back in the closet. The weather has been very warm and sometimes very hot for some weeks now. The rain has just come back few days ago, but now most of the clouds seem to have been blown away. Last Sunday I went birding around Beppu Ropeway again and it was very hot in the afternoon. I noticed that there were some small birds coming to a waterhole in the park near the cable car station. I then went looking for a good place to settle and found a nice shady area behind a maple tree. Too bad it was a little too close to the waterhole so some of the warier birds like the Japanese Grosbeak and Red-billed Leiothrix didn't feel comfortable enough to come down to take bath.

This female Japanese Tit was one of the first guests visiting this waterhole.

She must be feeling very good.

Many Meadow Buntings came to use the waterhole.
This is one of the females.

And here one of the males. This one has blackish scales on its upper breast.

This is another male Meadow Bunting.

This female Grey-capped Greenfinch was hopping around looking for food.

A flock of Japanese White-eyes came close to the waterhole, but was afraid to come down.

Tree Sparrow also wanted to take a bath.

This Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker later came down to another waterhole behind a thick bush.

A small flock of Red-billed Leiothrix also came near the waterhole, but they were afraid of me and later moved to the other area. It'd have been a great experience, if they come down to the waterhole.

And here's picture of a species I've been trying to get some good photos of for so long, a Hwamei. Along with the leiothrix, it's an introduced species from mainland China with a very sweet and complex song. This one was singing very loudly behind a building near the parking lot, but I couldn't get any closer than this because the bird was very wary. It is a common bird and I hear its sweet unique song everyday in the campus where these birds inhibit in thick bushes around the university area, but it is very difficult to get a good view of one.