Black-eared Kite

Try catching up with photos I took recently once again. Here's a set of photos of a tameBlack-eared Kite (Milvus lineatus) at Kitsuki. The bird came perching on a big tree while I was enjoying my bento lunch box. It was first mobbed by a pair of Large-billed Crow, but the crows flew away as I tried to approach the kite. I was surprised at how close I could get to the bird. It seemed to be enjoying preening and strong sunlight. Shame about the messy background though. The bird was once, and still, regarded as a subspecies of Black Kite (Milvus migrans), but some ornithologists prefer to separate it into a different species. It is differ from most subspecies of M.migrans by its grey (not yellow) cere and feet. It is the most abundant raptor in Japan.

Kitsuki

Now here's the photos from that trip to Kitsuki I mentioned in the previous post. The weather was extremely good, sunny though a bit too windy at the sea. It took just about 20 minutes or so from Beppu to Kitsuki by train, and the scenery along the way was pretty spectacular. The rice fields were all looking beautifully golden, and the sky was so blue. I enjoyed taking lots of landscape and other non-bird shots a lot. Here's a selection.

Cold autumn breeze with warm morning light made my morning walk perfect.

The river looks really nice, though there were not so many birds.

Non-breeding Intermediate Egrets (Mesophoyx intermedia)

Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis)

Male Meadow Bunting (Emberiza cioides)

Birds along the river were good in number, but not quite so in variety. There were lots of Intermediate and Little Egret perching on the river banks and Skylarks. A few couples of Zitting Cisticolas were also flitting in the rice paddies, as well as the numerous Meadow Buntings. A few Mallards and Spot-billed Ducks were floating in the river, with lots and lots of wigeons. Black-eared Kite was not surprisingly the only raptor seen.

Geese & Ducks

The morning of October 10 saw me catching a train to Kitsuki, a city north of Beppu, in search for a new birding spot. The mission failed by the way. Though I did find some good birds, there was no such decent spot. I walked for about 5km from the train station east to the seashore. Along the way, there were many flocks of ducks in the river, mostly wigeons and pintails. While stopping at one intersection near the city, a flock of 3 Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons) came flying passed over my head. I actually thought that they were cormorants from the distance, since I haven't seen any goose in Japan before. Actually, I've only seen 1 species of geese once in India, the Bar-headed Goose, and that was ages ago. So as soon as I realised that they were actually geese, I knew right then that I got a lifer!

Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons)

The birds flew out towards the west and disappeared in a distance. I continued walking towards the sea in the east, and about 15 minutes later, I spotted the birds came flying back towards the east again. This time they disappeared to the north and didn't come back.

Another nice species for me was the Falcated Duck (Anas falcata), a species I've only seen once in Thailand where it's a rare vagrant many years ago. I've seen a photo of a beautiful male taken at Sekino-e by the oba-chan I've met earlier this year. I wonder how could I not find it, since I've been there almost every week. This winter, I won't miss it, and the Mandarin as well! BTW there are 5 of them in the photos above, one in a more beautiful plumage and others in a drabbed brownish one.