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.