Life In The River

Still a post with old photos from the last few days of November. After finishing the siskins in Beppu Park, I always walked down to Oyukaeri River in Asami 3 Chou-me to photograph the Brown Dipper. Some day the dipper was so shy and I just couldn't get any slight shot of it, but for some, it became relatively much easier. At times when the dipper didn't come out easily for me to get photos, I killed my time by shooting other common objects like wagtails that were feeding in the same river. There were 3 species of wagtails, Japanese, Grey and White. The number of the Japanese Wagtail seemed to be the highest, then Grey and White Wagtail. However, the tamest was the Grey Wagtail which has yellow feathers up to its throat. If often came walking around 2 or 3 metres away in front of me. I really wish the dipper were as tame as this.

Non-breeding Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)

The most interesting one was this Motacilla alba alboides, a subspecies of White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) which is not so common here in Japan. Although I have seen this subspecies several times in Thailand during winter, I've never seen it in Japan before. The nominate race of White Wagtail in Japan is the subspecies M.a.lugens which has much more white on the head and neck. M.a.alboides interestingly looks much more like the local Japanese Wagtail (M. grandis).

Brown Dipper (Cinclus pallasii)

And of course, there are other birds other than the wagtails. A female Common Kingfisher was another regular visitor to the place where I waited for the dipper. Although I couldn't get any closer than 20 metres or so, I was quite satisfied with the birdscape shot I've got. A few Common Sandpipers were also walking along the river, as well as a small flock of Common Teals on the upper stream. I finally got some shots of the Brown Dipper in good light and out in the open, but a shame it was a bit too far away. I think I'll continue working on the dipper again in spring cos it's gotten really difficult for me to sit motionlessly on the river bank waiting for this plain little brown bird for hours in freezing temperature.

Beppu Park

It's been quite a long time since these photos were taken. The last few days of November saw me repeatedly visiting the local Beppu Park or Beppu Koen (別府公園) in Japanese. The main target for each visit was the large flock of Eurasian Siskins, a new species which seems to be so numerous this winter, as I've also seen a lot more in Oita. Last time I checked the park, which is on the last Wednesday, about 20+ birds were still around in the park. Though Furuso-san told me that there was also a Brambling in the park, I still couldn't find one. Bramblings are normally common in autumn, when a small number joins a flock of the commoner Grey-capped Greenfinches. I feel a bit weird not seeing Brambling this season. Apart from the finches, the number of thrushes were notable. Dusky and Pale Thrushes were all over the park. I wish this coming January brings in more Normann's and Dark-thraoted as it did earlier this year.

Eurasian Siskin (Carduelis spinus)

It's always entertaining to watch them swirling through the air in a massive number over the park. I tried to capture them in flight but found it very difficult to get a decent shot. Above is the only acceptable one. When they come down to perch on the open treetops before coming down to drink, they also look like yellow autumn leaves ready to be blown away by winter breeze. New arrivals of the park were 3-4 Olive-backed Pipits (Anthus hodgsoni) which were feeding along the small stream where the siskins often came down to drink. Other birds like the usual tits and wagtails were all showing well. Below are some of the shots I did.

Japanese Tit (Parus minor)

Non-breeding male White Wagtail (Motacilla alba lugens)

Late Afternoon

Gotta be more active in publishing posts in order to keep up with the photos I took. These shots were all taken in and around the artificial river near my dorm several weeks ago. A few juvenile Grey-tailed Tattlers were still lingering around, though all of them have already gone by now. The White and Grey Wagtails were numerous. The White Wagtails were especially photogenic. Many of them showed yellowish wash on their faces indicating that they're juveniles.

Juvenile Grey-tailed Tattler

Note its pale fringes on upperwing coverts

Juvenile male White Wagtail (Motacilla alba lugens)

Non-breeding Grey Wagtails

Some more photos of the migrating starlings again. I finally found out that the flock came down to bath in the river before flying up to preen themselves on electrical wires nearby before flying out to the Beppu Tower, their actual roosting site. I didn't find any Red-billed Starling since that day, although I scanned through most of the main flocks. Photographing them at dusk was really difficult since the speed was really low and the photos also look really dark.