October 6th, 今津探鳥会

The morning was dark and gloomy, but the weatherforcast had not predicted rain and proved right. We walked the biggest part of the usual course and spent most time watching ducks and waders at the tidal flats and the 2 lakes. Among the newly arrived ducks were:

3 male Mandarine ducks, オシドリ, each accompanied by 1 Teal, コガモ

A female? eclips Gargany, シマアジ

A Northern Shoveler, ハシビロガモ female

among others as in the previous blog post

A Whiskered Tern, クロハラアジサシ (?) flying overhead.

2 Different crabs crossed our path.

 アカテガニ, Akategani. 

ハマガニ, Hamagani

Both mudflat crabs, endemic to East Asia

After the meeting we took a short break. Some of us went to Taromaru to find the Little Stint (Next post) At 1pm we proceeded to the other side of the river and spent 2 hours picking garbage at the reed strip. After about 60 bags were filled the place looked just a little bit cleaner... We should do this every month - as long as the birds won't be disturbed.