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Hi all, Already another month meandered by and, upon reviewing it as I am doing now, I find that it has probably been the least stand-out month of all so far in terms of birding. Unlike last month, May did not stand out as being horribly un-photogenic but at the same time produced very few additions to my Japanese list.
I got the May proceedings off to a rather bad start with another trip to Shinrin Koen where I again found some Narcissus Flycatchers (no photos) and not much else. A sick-looking female Meadow Bunting sat posing for several photos but I was left kicking myself when I came home without one correctly-focused photo. Outside of the birds, some beautiful butterflies did their best to lift my spirits and I also tried my hand at a little portrait shooting, although doing so with my birding lens meant that I had to stand about 30m back from the subject. Definitely time for a new camera, I decided (a new camera did, in fact, follow a couple of weeks later). Mid-way through the month I managed to drag myself out to Sanbanze for the first time in what felt like a month. It has become something of a second home to me over the past 5 months, despite the fact that it is around 2.5 hours from our house. It was here that I managed to smash my month-long dearth of decent photos when I settled down to shoot a group of 4 Ruddy Turnstones. 3 of them were in full breeding plumage and the other I decided was either a female breeding plumage bird or was in the process of moulting into breeding colours.
3 days later I was out at the same place again. It was, after all, the peak of the wader migration season here in Japan, and a very good percentage of the waders were in their best attires. This time, I was able to get close to a variety of species, including Sanderlings, Bar-tailed Godwits, Grey-tailed Tattlers etc. My birdingwatching skills went out the window when differentiating Red-necked Stints and Sanderlings though, and I came home much more confused than when I left. I think I may have seen a couple of Red-necked Stints and thought the rest of the birds were the stints also, although it was clear (upon coming home) that at least some of them were Sanderlings. It is surprisingly easy to overlook the size of the birds when concentrating hard on taking 'The Photo'. The Dunlins, though, were absolutely stunning, especially in the late evening light which brought out the deep chestnuts and browns and reds on the back. A big pity we do not get them in Australia.
Another 4 days and I was back out at Sanbanze yet again. Yet again. A fair few of the waders had already left by this time (21st May), but there were still lots of Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings and a couple of godwits, tattlers, knots, sand plovers and Dunlins. I also managed some first-time photos of a group of Whimbrels. At one point, whilst stalking the Whimbrels, I looked up and for a moment thought I had suddenly transported back to Wollongong. A shearwater spp. was flying directly towards me, and as I struggled to get focus on the bird, it took me right back to the pelagics off Wollongong. In the end, I completely missed the focusing and, to top it all off, am still unsure as to whether it was a Short-tailed or a Sooty. On probability, a Short-tailed, on features a Short-tailed, but yet there is something that looked distinctly Sootyish in the field. One of those birds...
So, after the last trip I decided to call the wader season quits. In hindsight, it is interesting to note that I missed species such as Black-tailed Godwits, Pacific Golden Plovers, Greater Sand Plovers, Terek Sandpipers, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Curlew Sandpipers, species that I would have thought I had a very good chance of seeing given the number of times I visited both Yatsu-higata and Sanbanze over the course of the last 3 months. As it turns out, Black-tailed Godwits and Pacific Golden Plovers are largely freshwater migrants here in Japan, meaning that they frequent rice paddies and freshwater marshes as opposed to mudflats and saline habitats (which both Yatsu-higata and Sanbanze are). I found this intriguing as in Australia, both species inhabit mudflats as well. Greater Sand Plovers and Curlew Sandpipers are both uncommon here, and Terek Sandpiper I just missed I think (they are apparently reasonably common here). And of course, the rarity which didn't seem to come this season. Ah well, there is always autumn I guess.
After my stint at Sanbanze, I turned my attention elsewhere. On the 27th I headed out to a local park to test out the new camera and came home with nice shots and fantastic views of a male Japanese Green Pheasant. An amazing bird. Then, on the 29th, I went out birdwatching with the group from Kamakura. It was another mission out to the Tonegawa River again, only this time picking up my first new birds in aaages: Japanese Marsh Warbler, Japanese Reed Bunting, Yellow Bittern, White-winged Black Tern, and Intermediate Egret. Both the warbler and bunting are very localised species; in the case of the warbler, it is only found in two locales in Japan (and a couple more in eastern China). The bittern was good to get and was very easy to get as they always seemed to be conveniently flying over the reedbeds. Not so convenient was a Eurasian Bittern that was heard calling close by in the reeds but, more naturally, refused to show itself. That's that kind of behaviour I expect from bitterns! The White-winged Black Terns were so far away that there was serious trouble separating them from Whiskered Terns, but I got onto a couple of birds that I am sure were this species.
And that is all! Enough rambling from me. My reward for getting through 3 weeks of birdless-Tokyo and an annoying amount of school tests is another trip to Hokkaido at the end of the month. Excellent! So, I sign out for the past month with 173 species on my Japanese list. I am hoping to break 200 on the Hokkaido trip, but I think that is a little optimistic at best. This month's photo is a portrait of a male Japanese Green Pheasant.
Mata raigetsu! (until next month.....) Cheers Tobias
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