All the Grey Heron Chicks Are Out Of the Nest

Today the low- built Grey Heron nest at Hattori Ryokuchi Koen's Shingu Ike lake had no chicks in it -- this is the first time I've seen the nest empty of herons. There were 2 big turtles occupying the nest, and 2 nearly full-grown Grey Heron chicks perching on low-hanging tree branches very nearby.

A Blue Rockthrush Singing In My Parking Lot

I've heard a Blue Rockthrush singing in my building's parking lot at times, and at times from a perch atop nearby buildings for the past week or so.... It seemed hard to believe: a Rockthrush should be closer to a seacoast, shouldn't he? But this morning I had a good look at him: he was preening his feathers and singing atop a car in the parking lot... and was unmistakably a Blue Rockthrush.

What's he doing here in this season, I wonder....

And another oddity this year: Several days each week I still hear Grey- headed Lapwings in our rice fields even this late in the spring. Have their preferred fields been destroyed, replaced by buildings or parking lots, I wonder, so they settle for foraging in the little fields in this neighborhood...?

Two Herons and a Turtle in the Nest

There are big turtles (with shells about the size of a large dinner plate) in Shingu Ike Lake. They often sun themselves on logs or branches at the edge of the lake. Today in the Grey Heron's nest built just above the lake's surface, there was one such turtle and two of the "chicks" (now close to adult size). One of the chicks stood atop the turtle much of the time -- I think it was not a good spot for sunning by the turtle.

Immature Grey Herons Hanging Around In Their Nest

Today at noon, just before it started to rain, 2 of the Grey Herons, no longer chicks, really, now clearly "immature herons" were preening ( one heron) and sleeping ( the other heron) in their low- built nest at Singu Ike Lake in Hattori Ryokuchi Koen.