Little Grebes again, また カイツブリ

With all this rain I wondered how the last family was doing and I went to see them again.

The nest was still there in the pond. Both parents were very busy looking after 4 little chicks. So cute! 1 Egg remained in the nest. That means what was left of the nest. It was half the original size and looked very shallow.  The 2 adult birds worked hard to keep it in a reasonable condition, adding weeds and leaves, rearranging them where necessary. They seemed to know what they were doing. I watched them and the babies for a few minutes and moved on.

Little heads popping out of Mum's fluffy feathers

Already good swimmers, able to leaf the nest briefly

The last egg, will nr 5 make it to this world?

Not yet 1 week old, cute as hell!

Striated Heron, ササゴイ

Following the course upriver I soon found this one bird feeding on what appearded to be snails on the opposite river bank

How does he or she eat the snails? Suck on it? Crack the shell?

A second bird flew by, stopping briefly further south

More pronounced markings, could this be a male? And the other one a female?

They both disappeared behind the bridge to the south. I wonder if they are a pair and have a nest...

Heavy rain, 大雨

Our overnight visit to the mountain in central Kyushu was canceled - again - but we wanted to go for a stroll anyway. To my surprise Fukuoka has nice places in the east. In the 20+ years we've lived here I had never visited this forest.

Fungus on a mushroom... Is that a symbiotic or a parasitic relation?

Scarlet skimmer, ショウジョウトンボ

モノサシトンボ,  Monosashi tombo?

Heavy rain, 大雨

The perfect head of a mushroom reminding me of .... a spiky massage ball and a Japanese wedding headdress

Just a bit of clean mud. The world seems devided between people who think mud is dirty and people who don't. I really would have liked somebody making a mess of himself here. Just for the photo.

He would not.

Brown Hawk Owl family, アオバズクの家族

There were 3 chicks, staying together. I went to see them twice and both cases no parents were seen in the surrounding trees. I waited till the evening and after sunset they came flying to feed the babies. They must have been somewhere nearby after all.

Oh no, don't try to eat that!

How do you like my hat?

They are Chinaberries, from the Chinaberry tree, センダン in Japanese. Poisonous!

Fallen asleep 寝てしまいました

Kanatake walk July 15th

10 People gathered for the monthly walk. There was rain in the forecast, but we didn't get too wet. There were numerous sightings of interesting "small stuff" but very few birds. Many babies, all sorts.
We started off with longhorn beetles emerging out of the holes in the bamboo. Had they just hedged? What a way to start your life!

Bamboo tiger beetle, タケトラカミキリ  (Chlorophorus annularis)

still covered in wood dust

Adult beetle

When I walked past a few days before I heard the sounds coming from inside the box. I wondered what had happened to the original nest. I still don't know, but the family is doing fine.

ツバメ Barn swallow

The baby demanding food from another young bird, who can't stand the pressure

Next a cicada that also might have just come out of its shell

アブラセミ, Large brown cicada and セミの抜け殻 (seminokara)

テリハノイバラ, Rosa luciae

Baby hopper, バッタ

ツマグロバッタ Stethophyma magister

baby stinkbug, ホシハラビロヘリカメムシの幼虫,  Homoeocerus dilatatus？

キュウシュウシロマイマイ, Trishoplita eumenes

Common Mapwing, イシガケチョウ

Red Helen, モンキアゲハ

Purple-Loosestrife, ミソハギ        アキノタムラソウ, Salvia japonica

セスジナミシャク, Evecliptopera illitata

　

The body of this cicada is covered in fungi. There seem to be symbiotic fungi that are derived from fungal parasites of cicadas. These cordyceps fungi produce bioactive substances including immunosuppresants. The change from parasitic relations to symbiotic relations can occur!

菌類の付いたセミ

Dew drops, 露滴

Bekko Hagoromo, ベッコウハゴロモAsian Planthopper

Chinese red-headed centipede,トビズムカデ

ヌマトラノオ, Lysimachia fortunei

Common bluebottle, アオスジアゲハ on Clethra, リョウブ

アオスジアゲハの卵, Common bluebottle egg 

Dwarf lilyturf , リュウノヒゲ (ジャノヒゲ)　

ウスベニスジヒメシャク Timandra dichela

Japanese brown frog, 二ホンアカガエル

キイロスズメの幼虫, Theretra nessus

Diana treebrown, クロヒカゲ

ニホンカナヘビ, Japanese Grass Lizard

ムクドリ, White-cheeked starling There were more then 60 birds

Wisteria japonica ナツフジ

Again, Common bluebottle, アオスジアゲハ on Clethra, リョウブ

Clethra, リョウブ

ヨメナ, Aster yomena

コオニユリ, Lilium leichtlinii

Small copper, ベニシジミ on Water dropwort, セリ (Oenanthe javanica)

ツシマケマイマイ, Aegista trochula.

A huge Convolvulus hawk-moth, エビガラスズメガ (Agrius convolvuli) 

 Japanese Tree Frog, ニホンアマガエル

No name (yet)

クロハラヒメバチ,  Quandrus pepsoides

Correction: ベッコウクモバチ　Cyphononyx fulvognathus.

Oriental turtle dove, キジバト

Kempfer cicada, ニイニイゼミ

caterpillar of Ramie Moth, フクラスズメ

カナブン, アオカナブン  Kanabun and Aokanabun Scarab Beetle or Drone Beetle,

Wasp spider, ナガコガネグモ

At the vege plot...

...with today's harvest

2 Days before when I walked around:

ウコンカギバの幼虫  Turmeric Kagiba larva

A Longhorn beetle whose name translates to Spotted Red Longhorn, ホシベニカミキリ, Eupromus ruber 

The Shade butterfly, ヒカゲチョウ (Lethe sicelis)  endemic to Japan

セスジスズメの幼虫   Impatiens Hawkmoth caterpillar

Cute little stinkbug ヒメジュウジナガカメムシ on Fleabane Daisy, ヒメジョオン

ヨツスジトラカミキリ, Yotsusuji Longhorn beetle

Wandering glider, ウスバキトンボ. 

Krananda moth, スカシエダシャク Krananda semihyalina

コウヤツリアブ, Anthrax aygulus

No Name fungus

You have come to the last photo of this blog post. Congratulations, it's my favorite.

Thank you very much for your effort and interest!

このブログ投稿の最後の写真に到達しました。私のお気に入りです。

ご尽力とご関心をありがとうございました！

Japanese honeybee,  ニホンミツバチ (Apis cerana japonica) and Sunflower, ヒマワリ