Yesterday and today I ran a birding tour in the Fukuoka area for two guests from the UK. Conditions were quite challenging, however we saw a total of 66 species and heard an additional 5. Highlights included Black-faced Spoonbill, Far Eastern Curlew, Great Knot, Japanese Cormorant, Grey-headed Lapwing, Asian Stubtail, Narcissus Flycatcher, Japanese Thrush, Red-flanked […]
Moose, as it is known in North America or the Eurasian elk, as it is known in Europe is the largest species in the deer family. An adult Moose will average 1000 pounds and stands 6 feet high at the shoulder. Moose have a keen sense of smell and of hearing, but are nearsighted. Moose […]
Shooting wildlife is a thrilling endeavor. It’s hard work, can involve travel to remote locations, and sometimes requires braving the elements. And yet, even on a bad day, it is thrilling. The ultimate thrill is when everything comes together to procude a high quality artistic image of the creature engaged its natural behavior in its […]
Phoeniconaias minorPhoenicopteriformes – Phoenicopteridae It is the smallest species of flamingo; it lives in sub-Saharan Africa with another population in India. It mainly breeds at Lake Natron in northern Tanzania andfeeds primarily on a cyanobacteria or Spirulina, algae which grow only in very alkaline lakes and contains the photosynthetic pigments that give the birds their […]
Late this afternoon I stopped in at what is reputedly the smallest and newest lake in Japan, Lake Shirachi in Shimabara. Actually more of a large pond than a lake, it is surrounded by streets but usually has herons and egrets as well as a few resident “soup” ducks. However it is also a good […]
The Rose-coloured Starling or Rosy Starling is a bird that breeds in Asia, apparently in vast numbers. From time to time, instead of migrating south too the Indian sub-continent to spend the winter, the odd one migrates in the wrong direction and finishes up, totally lost in Europe and even the UK. One such lonely […]
This spring has been very strange. After such a rainy winter with 4-6 floods in the southern Arava, we all expected that the desert will be filled with migrants. Then came March and by the end of it we were still looking hard to find birds in the Arava. Nevertheless there were many quality species […]
This morning was pretty fun at Mead Gardens. I saw a couple Barred Owls and a few Wood Ducks that were cooperative with my camera, though most other species I saw were not. I heard a Red-eyed Vireo in the park this morning, and I have a brief glimpse at a Painted Bunting on the […]