Aisatsu

Aisatsu

This blog is for family and friends, to share my feelings and photos with and for myself, to support my fading memory. Readers who have my site translated automatically, please refer to the original if necessary. Especially when it comes to identification. Any comments, anonymous or by email name are always welcome!.

Wednesday 30 April 2014

Mozu baby

Remember the shrikes from Dazaifu? I wrote about them in March:
click

Well, they got a family!




 One small chick peeking through the foliage, yelling like a proper baby when Mum arrives with food.


Mum watching me from a nearby tree.


And by the sounds of it, Dad is busy with some more offspring in another tree.

Another bird I saw right there:  
Amur White Wagtail, M. a. leucopsis,  ホオジロハクセキレイ

  





Migrating birds in Fukuoka 8

On the way down from a refreshing, but bird-less walk in the mountains I stopped briefly at the fields near Imazu to see if anything new had arrived. Most ducks had left and there were no terns yet. The high tide kept me away from the mudflats, so I don't know what was there. But in the far back of this bit of land I spotted a long bill. The face that was attached to it did not seem to be that of a Common Snipe as I had first suspected, so I took the time till some more bodyparts became visible through the grass. And then there it was: a Latham Snipe. My instincts had not lied to me, I felt good.

Latham's Snipe,  オオジシギ




Soon it flew and disappeared again, but now some friends, (old time birders) who had seen me staring into the field wondered what was there, so I waited around again with them. From where I had seen the bird diving into the bush a little head peaked out every now and then. We concentrated and waited and waited...till it stepped out and then... it seemed to be a Common Snipe...

Common Snipe,  たしぎ



Ahh, disappointment. I felt unconfident again, doubting my own judgement. However, a few minutes of polite conversation later... another snipe stepped out. Guess who?

Left: Latham's Snipe,  オオジシギ   Right Common Snipe,  タシギ




I don't think they were the best of friends. Latham is chasing Common. Why did they choose the same poll of grass to hide in?


Again?!

Migrating birds in Fukuoka 7

A big flock of Rooks hung around Itoshima in the end of March, a few days before they left.

Rook,  ミヤマガラス





Wood Sandpipers come and go a lot, we see them mostly in spring and autumn.

Wood Sandpiper,  タカブシギ





Great cormorants are residents in Japan, but they leave Fukuoka temporary to breed.

Great Cormorant,  カワウ



Mukudori live here, but even they escape Fukuoka in the heat of summer.

White-cheeked Starling,  ムクドリ 




caption, please!

Sunday 27 April 2014

Migrating Birds in Fukuoka 6

A surprise visit from 2 Green Pigeons. I often hear their call in the mountains, it's unmistakable, but I hardly ever see them. Too much green. What made them come flying to this hill downtown? They should not be under a post titled "Migrating birds in Fukuoka", because they don't migrate, they live here. And so do the Long-tailed Tits. But it's in this season that they were seen, so I will leave it as that.

White-bellied Green Pigeon.,  アオバト





 








Long-tailed Tit, エナガ




arrogance 傲慢




Friday 25 April 2014

Migrating birds in Fukuoka 5

Another Thrush, a winter visitor who has been here for 4 months and has to leave soon. He or she (?) has started to feel quite at home now. I saw him lurking in the dark way below the wooded slope on another day and just when I was wondering what was happening down there he jumped right in front of me, startling us both.
Whites's Thrush, トラツグミ



 He quickly flew back down, but an hour later he was coming up hill again. 















Japanese Great Tit,  シジュウカラ


These tits won't be going anywhere now. The are already pairing and building their nests. I love their marking and like to watch them bathing.


  










Tuesday 22 April 2014

Migrating birds in Fukuoka 4

Another colorful treat in April:

male Narcissus Flycatcher,  キビタキ
















A wild flower of the Gentian family, フデリンドウ (Gentiana zollingeri)