In A Parking Lot

I found this female Eastern Stonechat (Saxicola maurus) perching in a small lawn in the car park near my dorm on November 5. Although it is a very common bird elsewhere, I've only seen it once in Beppu, and that was almost 3 years ago. This bird was quite approachable unlike many wary Stonechats I've mostly seen in Thailand. It was catching insects, mostly grasshoppers, in the lawn, and let me get pretty close to it. I also found another non-breeding male, but at Sekino-E yesterday. This autumn passage has seemed to bring in many interesting migrants to this small town!

Female Eastern Stonechat (Saxicola maurus)

Male Daurian Redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus)

A pair of Daurian Redstart was also residing around the parking lot, one's a male, one's a female. Their strange high-pitched call became familiar once again. The male bird in the photo above was puffing its feathers and calling out to another female nearby. I don't know if it's a kind of courtship display or not, but I've seen many pairs of Daurian Redstarts doing this before. A male Bull-headed Shrike (Lanius bucephalus) was also perching around the small lawn in the parking lot as well, and it constantly chased off the Stonechat. I could also grabbed a few shots of it eating a mantis before the sunset.

Male Bull-headed Shrike (Lanius bucephalus)