One bird I’ve long been wanting to see while in Japan is the beautiful Fairy Pitta. The numbers of this globally-endangered species in Japan seem to have been steadily decreasing, or else they are moving from historic breeding grounds such as Mi-ike to more secretive locations deeper in the mountains. Every year a few migrate […]
Tag: japan
Azamidani
This morning I spent some time at Azamidani, Mount Unzen. There was an outside chance of migrant warblers and thrushes, however only the usual summer breeders and residents. The highlights were seeing the male Narcissus Flycatcher, Blue-and-white Flycatcher and Japanese Thrush. In particular, I observed what seemed to be some kind of courtship display by […]
Oriental Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis)
It is always a sign of summer coming when the Oriental Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis) start setting up their territories and making the normally quiet reed banks come alive with their noisy, grating song. While they will sing at any time of day, the dawn chorus is very special. At Oe reclaimed land area there […]
Breeding Time!
Summer breeders have mostly all arrived at the mountain pond on Mt Unzen, and the resident species are also busy nesting. The main draw-cards of Narcissus Flycatcher, Blue-and-white Flycatcher and Japanese Thrush are all there now. Meanwhile, down at Oe reclaimed land area dozens of Oriental Reed Warbler are busy establishing territories while Pacific Swift […]
Bad Weather Morning at Kabashima…
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 […]
Hyotanike Lake
This morning I had a little bit of time and the weather was great, so I went to nearby Hyotanike lake to see what was happening. This lake has very nice scenery but is usually a bit low on bird life other than the resident Mallard and some introduced ducks. But the Barn Swallows love […]