As usual the forecasters got it wrong – rain during the night clearing by dawn with sunny skies from noon – alas, rain, rain and more rain.
In fact, it’s still raining now at 19:45! Anyway, I left home at 03:30 in order to catch the dawn and see if any migrants were around at Kabashima.
The conditions meant I could have left at 07:00 and had plenty of time to catch the morning’s action but it’s nice to know I didn’t miss anything by arriving late.
There were many birds calling, but all were skulking until mid-morning when a few began to show. Of interest were Siberian Blue Robin (glimpsed in the undergrowth), Blue-and-white Flycatcher and Tristram’s Bunting. I decided to also check some of the fields around Nomo town (the main township in the area) and turned up a small flock of Chestnut-cheeked Starling as well as a Little Bunting (rare in Japan).
A nice Red-throated Pipit in breeding plumage was active in the fields but very flighty. Finally, as I was about to leave the area, a male Red-bellied Rock Thrush appeared beside my car with a centipede! It quickly disarmed the centipede by plying off its stingers before toying with it a bit more prior to flying off.
John Wright
John Wright is an Australian wildlife photographer and bird guide based in Kyushu, Japan. John became seriously engaged in nature photography while living in Japan and then Thailand. He returned to Japan in 2008 and has since concentrated on wildlife photography, especially birds. John visits Southeast Asia and Australia regularly, but usually travels within the Japanese archipelago, where he also guides visiting birders and wildlife photography enthusiasts.
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