Saturday with a friend

When John from Nagasaki came to town we decided to look at the fields around Koga.

The first birds we saw were Grey-headed lapwing, about 4 of them.

ケリ,  Grey-headed Lapwing

Nearby was a pair of Greater Painted-snipe, not in a hurry to leave, so we could watch them mating and performing some display. That was all done very briefly and without much flair. They must have been together for some time...

タマシギ,  Greater Painted-snipe

Greater Painted-snipes, going about their business as they should.

Showing some display afterwards

We drove to Dazaifu where a pair of Japanese Paradise Flycatchers was building a nest from moss, spider webs and ceder bark. The nest was only visible between leaves and branches from a 30cm square patch on the middle of the road, which was most inconvenient. But this is what came out:

サンコウチョウ,  Japanese Paradise Flycatcher

Male, visible because of its blue face markings.

and long tail.

female trying out the softness of the bedding

And that was another good birding day, thanks to John for helping me with his good advice and excellent eye sight. Arigato!