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