Lapwings, Pigeons, and Crows All Feasting in Peace

Oh, what a fine sight I happened to see from my veranda while hanging out the laundry to dry this morning: 2 Lapwings, about 20 pigeons ( Rock Doves), and 2 crows ( I think Jungle Crows...) feeding in one of the 7 dry rice fields I can see down below us. This field was the last of the rice fields to be harvested this fall, and a lot of weeds had sprung up among the rice plants by the time the farmer harvested it after 2 typhoons had passed through. That farmer is quite elderly, and I don't think he uses much, if any, insecticide or weed killer in his field.

It seems to me that it is likely that there is something delicious and nutritious growing in that field now (animal or plant, I don't know which, or perhaps both) and there is enough of it for all 3 of these species of birds, and they know it, and have come to accept each other's presence while they feast on it.

A nice sight....

My First-ever Sighting of Common Mergansers -- a Pair on the Kamogawa River in Kyoto

Yesterday at around 4 PM, as the sun started slipping down behind tall buildings in the west, I saw a male/ female pair of Common Mergansers on the Kamogawa River, near Demachiyanagi Station in Kyoto on the Keihan Line. They swam out from reeds near the shore, together with a few Mallards and Spot-billed Ducks and Eurasian Wigeons, and were dabbling and ducking underwater to eat something ( I don't know what). They were unmistakably mergansers, male and female. I've seen Smews before, and knew that this pair couldn't be Smews: they were too big -- about the size of Mallards, and the male's head was a solid hood of black/dark green. I felt privileged to see them.

In addition, I saw:

Great Egret. 1

Little Egret. 2

Mallard. 8

Spot-billed Ducks. 6

Eurasian Wigeons. 5

Green-winged Teal. 9

White  Wagtail. 2

Japanese Wagtail. 1Crows. 6

Black Kites. 10

Tree Sparrow. 60

Lapwings Are Still Feeding Here -- This Morning in the Dry Rice Fields

Well, as the title of this post says, the 2 Grey-headed Lapwings are again feeding here... Today in one of the seven dried out rice paddy fields I can see from my veranda. As I hang out the laundry to dry, I here them keek-keeping, and see them fluttering up and around for awhile, as does a flock of pigeons. After 10 or 20 seconds, the lapwings and pigeons settle down again to eat things ( what??) from adjacent paddy fields.

Grey-headed Lapwings Were Back Again Today

Grey-headed Lapwings were back grazing in the same dried out rice fields and grassy edges this morning. A large flock of pigeons were grazing there at the same time. All of them flew up in alarm, with the Lapwings keek-keeking, when something ( a crow?) alarmed them. I really think the crows are just curious, and fly down to investigate, when they see these grazers in the fields....

Grey-headed Lapwings Grazed Near my Veranda this Morning

As I hung the wet laundry out on my veranda to dry this bright but cold morning, I heard the unmistakeable "keek!" "keek!" (my rendition) of Grey- headed Lapwings from the now barren rice fields below. Of course, these birds are very well camouflaged in grey when viewed from above, and so I couldn't spot them until they briefly fluttered up and away when a solitary Jungle Crow flew down to investigate them. Once they flew, their brilliant white wings and body, and black necklace, revealed them indeed to be Grey-headed Lapwings.

When the crow returned to his perch on a lamppost, the Lapwings resumed their grazing in the grassy banks bordering the clayey soil of the dry, empty rice field.

I love seeing, and hearing, Lapwings, and they come here only in winter, and even then only sporadically. I most often hear them calling to each other at night -- rarely in daytime.

Birds Seen in Hattori Ryokuchi Koen with Japan Wild Bird Society on December 9 , 2017

9:00 AM until about 12:00 Noon

Partly sunny after a cold, rainy night. About 10 degrees Centigrade.

We saw 40 species of birds:

Species: Number of birds counted

Gadwall:  7

Falcated Teal:  8

Eurasian Wigeon: 14

Mallard: 18

Spot-billed Duck: 19

Northern Shoveller: 10

Pintail: 14

Pochard: 21

Tufted Duck: 7

Little Grebe: 5

Turtle Dove: 3

Great Cormorant: 4

Black-crowned Night Heron: 3

Gray Heron:  3

Little Egret:  2

Common Gallinule (Moorhen):  4

European Coot:  25

Common Kingfisher:  5

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker:  2

Bull-headed Shrike:  1

Carrion Crow:  5

Jungle Crow:  25

Varied Tit:  2

Oriental Tit ( sometimes classified as separate species: Japanese Tit) :  6

Brown eared Bulbul:  30

Japanese Bush Warbler:  2

Long-tailed Tit:  20

Japanese White Eye:  6

Gray Starling:  5

Pale Thrush:  4

Dusky Thrush:  3

Daurian Redstart:  3

Tree Sparrow:  145

Gray Wagtail:  2

White Wagtail:  8

Brambling:  15

Oriental Greenfinch:  14

Japanese Grosbeak:  15

Black-faced Bunting:  2

Rock Dove (Common Pigeon):  168

Stroll Through Hattori Ryokuchi Koen Park Checking on the Ducks, Coots, and Grebes

8 AM  Sunny. About 10 degrees C

Water fowl seen in various ponds and lakes in the park:

Mallard,  more than 5

Spot-billed Duck,  more than 8

Pochard,  more than 2

Norther Shoveller,  more than 5

Falcated Teal,  more than 5 male/female pairs

Gadwall,  3 male/ female pairs

Moorhen,  2 (immature)

Coot,  more than 7

Birds Seen at Sundown in Hattori Ryokuchi Koen Park on Thanksgiving Day, 2017

Grey Heron (fishing)  2

Little Grebe (fishing)  6

Mallard  4

Spot-billed Duck 6

Norther Shoveler 3

Pochard 2

Tufted Duck  3

Typhoon-felled Trees Seem to Invite Feeding by Insectivorous Birds

Walking in Hattori Ryokukuchi Koen the past 10 days or so since the latest typhoon, I notice lots of birds feeding near or on trees felled by the two typhoons that passed through here last month. I guess there is a bounty of insects on and in various parts of those trees, and the birds are feasting on them....

What Happened to the Birds in My Neighborhood After the Typhoon Passed Through -- No Worries, No Tears

Typhoon Lan passed through my neighborhood all day and that night, but at dawn, it had gone. It left behind flooded rice fields, crushed fields of Cosmos flowers, raging little streams that are usually placid,  6-meter-high bamboo trees snapped in half, up-rooted and toppled eucalyptus, willow, pine, plane, and oak trees....  Also, ponds and lakes in Hattori Ryokuchi Koen Park that were devoid of the many ducks, egrets, herons, grebes, and kingfishers that had certainly been there the previous few weeks.

And our neighborhood Bull-headed Shrike was not heard from at all the first day, or the second day, after the typhoon. Carrion crows and Tree Sparrows were the first birds to come back to our local rice fields (early the first morning after the typhoon, and were seemingly pretty content, and even excited, about what they found to eat in those fields).

And then, right at sunrise on the third morning after the typhoon, I heard a shrike calling as it and crows and sparrows came into the neighborhood for the day. So all is well again. I do wonder where the shrike spent those few days he went missing after the typhoon. And I wonder where all the ducks disappeared to.... But just today, I saw 4 species of ducks, and a few grebes, in Uzuwa Ike pond, and Tufted Ducks, and  Northern Shovelers, and a Common Kingfisher in Shingu Ike Lake... so, I say, all's well with the world again....

Super Typhoon Lan Is Approaching, and I Pity the Birds in Japan

Super Typhoon Lan ( now a Category 4 cyclone) is approaching our island (Honshu), and is  predicted to hit us directly tomorrow, and heavy, chilly rain has been falling here continuously since yesterday. Yesterday I saw a flock of about 60 Tree Sparrows swiftly crossing the rice fields in front of me, ... going where, I wonder?...

Seeing a flock of more than 50 Tree Sparrows is rare in this neighborhood. I guess they gathered and flew together in this number due to the chilly, windy rain... They were cheeping and chattering constantly as they swooped and settled, and took off again... for where? I pity them.

Glancing out my window onto the veranda yesterday, I saw 3 or more Tree Sparrows huddled there. They looked at me, and at the herbs growing on the veranda, but they didn't move, so I left quickly, hoping they would find some brief shelter and maybe a bite to eat there....

Our resident Bull-headed Shrike has been silent and unseen since yesterday afternoon. I wonder where he is, and wish him well.

Thirty-three species of birds in Hattori Ryokuchi Koen Park on October 14, 2017

I walked in Hattori Ryokuchi Koen Park on October 14, 2017 with about 50 members of The Wild Bird Society of Japan. We saw 33 species of birds between 9 AM and 12 PM. The weather was completely overcast, with rain forecasted ( but only a few sprinkles fell), and it was around 17 degrees C. It was a great morning of bird watching. I learned many, many things from my fellow birdwatchers, too.

Here are the 33 species of birds we saw  (with the number definitely seen and counted given in parentheses):

Falcated Teal  (2)

(Eurasian) Wigeon  (2)

Mallard  (5)

Spot-billed Duck (13)

Green winged Teal (1)

Tufted Duck  (1)

Little Grebe  (1)

Rufous Turtle Dove  (3)

Grey Heron  (1)

Little Egret  (3)

Common Gallinule  (1)

Coot  (2)

Common Kingfisher (3)

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (4)

Bull-headed Shrike  (3)

Carrion Crow (3)

Jungle Crow (many; more than 20)

Varied Tit (2)

Japanese Tit (previously named Great Tit, but now considered a separate species) (13)

Brown- eared Bulbul (many; 25 counted)

Long-tailed Tit (12)

Omushikui (sorry, I don't know the name in English) (1)

Arctic Warbler (1)

Grey Starling (15)

Siberian Rubythroat (1)

Brown Flycatcher (1)

Grey Spotted Flycatcher (1)

Tree Sparrow (many; more than 60)

Grey Wagtail (1)

White wagtail (2)

Japanese Wagtail (1)

Rock Dove (Common Pigeon) (more than 35)

Ducks have started coming back to Osaka for the winter

Seen yesterday morning, around 10 AM, with sunny weather around 20 degrees C, in Hattori Ryokuchi Koen:

In Uzuwa Pond:

1 Little Grebe in breeding plumage ( Little Grebes breed in this park every year)

8 Spot-billed Ducks in 2 groups at opposite ends of the pond

2 Northern Shovelers, both males, not in eclipse, swimming and feeding side by side

2 Green-winged Teal, swimming together: 1 female, and 1 male in eclipse

2 Eurasian Wigeons, swimming near each other. Not sure of the sex: either they were females, or possibly 1 or both were males in eclipse

1 Common Kingfisher, diving for fish

1 Gray Heron, perching


And seen in Shingu Lake:  An unusual sight for me:

A male Pochard and a male Tufted Duck, both in breeding plumage, swimming across the lake together

A Siberian Bluechat Took a Moment's Rest on My Veranda

A few days ago, at mid-day, when I glanced out the window of our living room, I saw a male Siberian Bluechat alight briefly on the railing of our veranda. He looked at the plants on the veranda, looked at me, and briefly hesitated, and then flew away over the rice fields ----

That was the first time I have ever seen a Siberian Bluechat in our neighborhood. The males  are so beautiful and cute: like a small American Robin, except that they are bright blue (the blue shade of an American Bluebird) and have a wash of orange on their flanks.... Indeed, both American Robins and Siberian Bluechats are thrushes.... Siberian Bluechats breed up north of here (in Hokkaido, The Kuril Islands, northeastern Russia, and Mongolia....).

I wish that Bluechat had not flown away so quickly. I wish he had found a bug to eat, or a bit of water to drink, and stayed a few minutes longer close to us. I wish him well wherever he was headed.

For 2 years I observed a male Siberian Bluechat stay for the whole winter in a stand of camellia trees in The Botanical Garden of Kyoto University. I loved to see him dart out from his tree perch, catch (or try to catch) an insect on the adjacent walking path, and dart back up into his tree. I often saw him doing that around noontime, and the first time I saw him do it, his beauty, and the mystery of what kind of bird he might be, took my breath away and sent me running to find my field guide so I could try to identify him. That turned out to be easy: Male Siberian Bluechats are unmistakeable, and unforgettable.

Ducks will soon return to overwinter in Hattori Ryokuchi Koen Park in Osaka

This morning was clear, sunny ( about 23 degrees C), and breezy in Hattori Ryokuchi Koen Park in Osaka, and I checked 3 of the 5 major ponds there to see how many species of ducks were there. Today, the only ducks I saw there were Spot-billed Ducks....

During December and January, there will be about 10 species of ducks in those ponds. But today I saw only about 6 Spot-billed Ducks, which are resident year-round here in Osaka and breed at Hattori Ryokuchi Koen. The other 9 species of ducks all spend November - January in ponds and rivers in Osaka , and in salty marshes near the Pacific Ocean seacoast around Osaka, and then they fly back north, to Hokkaido, the Kuril Islands, Kamchatka (sp?), and Russia to breed during the summer, as far as I know....

Birdwatchers from all over Osaka love to watch the comings and goings of these 10 species of ducks daily during the fall, winter, and early spring here in Hattori Ryokuchi Koen Park. The ducks will start coming back soon, and I want to check the ponds daily to witness this spectacle.

The Shrike Is an Early Riser

It's 5:50 AM here. The window is open, and I hear our neighborhood over-wintering Bull-headed Shrike chittering from a telephone pole next door.

5:54 AM: I hear a few crows gently calling to each other as they land in trees next door, and next-next door. They sleep somewhere else, but they come back here every morning around dawn. "Gah-gah-gah-gah-ga-ga", they gently say to each other. It sounds like three or four of them are talking to each other....

Our Neighborhood Bull-headed Shrike Has Come Back for the Winter

A male Bull- headed Shrike comes back here every autumn to make a winter territory covering the half-a-dozen family-size rice fields near our home in Osaka.

I know he has come back because I can hear his loud, bossy chittering from tree-tops, telephone wires, and roof-tops when he comes back here for the winter. Occasionally I see him flitting from perch to perch, or swooping down on a flock of sparrows or some other intended prey. I've never seen him catch any prey, though. I wonder what he eats.

He arrived back here the first week in September this year. I'm always glad to have this shrike return -- he comes together with the cooling winds of autumn.