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