Kujukuri

Another migration season, another breeding season.

Lesser sand plovers (Medaichidoriメダイチドリ) are resting / fuelling up en route to their breeding grounds.

I believe that the Lesser sand plover has been split into two independent species - the Siberian Sand Plover and the Tibetan Sand Plover. I am not still sure which is which, so please forgive me for using the old English common name.

a Kentish plover (Shirochidoriシロチドリ)

Kentish plovers also migrate but probably not a long distance like only within Japan or to/from the eastern coast of the Asian continent.

Some birds, like this one, just have made a dent in the sand and sat on it as if they were trying to work out the nest was comfortable enough to sit for a long time. 

Quite a few Skylarks were singing over the grassland on the edge of the beach.

Chiba Koen

 It was a lovely day and now is the time for all sorts of flowers and blossoms 🌺🌼

and it's a very busy time for parent birds to bring up their little ones.

Even only a short stay in the park made me smile and feel extremely happy 😍

Chishirodai Heronry II

 Along with Black-crowned night herons (Goisagiゴイサギ) and Great egrets (Daisagiダイサギ), Grey herons (Aosagiアオサギ) have nests there too. They are normally the first to start building nests and I guess most of Grey herons have eggs in their nests.

Grey herons' nests are rather large, compared with Night herons'.

There used to be only herons and egrets in this heronry but Great cormorants' nests were recorded last year. 

Some cormorants are young and don't breed this year but just hang around. 

I filmed some short clips;

great egrets mating

a great egret had an itch...😄

a pair of night herons😍

My nest counts;

6 cormorants' 

35 Black-crowned night herons'

19 Grey herons'

39 Great egrets'

 and individual numbers;

23 Cormorants, 111 BCN herons, 25 Grey herons, 58 Great egrets

Under all the dramas on the water, some wintering ducks were still fuelling for their migration ahead. 

Shovelers (Hashibirogamoハシビロガモ)

Chishirodai Heronry I

A huge colony of herons & egrets is only 10 minutes walk away from home, yet there are so many nests in breeding season that I need to choose time when I can spare some time for counting. 

All the white spots are white egrets and there are grey herons and black-crowned night herons as well. You know what I meant? 

A Black-crowned night heron (Goisagiゴイサギ) preening in a cherry tree🌸 and there are more night herons hiding in the tree😁 Can you spot them? 

Night herons' nests are quite shabby and I am always amazed how they lay eggs on them!

 They tend to make a nest low in a tree - some almost touching the water.

Most Great egrets (Daisagiダイサギ) have their breeding plumage, which is gorgeous!

I spotted a blue egg on one of the nests😍

Allo-preening (preening each other)

The heronry looks like a busy apartment in a city

to be continued...

Japanese Sparrowhawk

 A female Japanese sparrowhawk was calling in a tree.

What a beauty!!

Okusa Paddy Fields (大草谷津田いきものの里)

Okusa Yatsuda Ikimono-no-sato is kind of a nature/culture reserve, manually managed organic paddy fields only 4 miles away from the centre of Chiba City. 

A totally different world from the city centre! 

Great egrets (Daisagiダイサギ) were in their gorgeous breeding plumage.

Japanese brown frogs (Nihon-akagaeruニホンアカガエル) were croaking and their tadpoles were swimming everywhere, which means the fields are a huge smorgasbord for those egrets! 

You can hear the volume of the frogs' calls! 

Another bird which would appreciate the fields full of amphibians is a Grey-faced buzzard (Sashibaサシバ). 

The buzzards are migratory and she must have arrived here to breed quite recently. She got here at the right moment for a free buffet! 

Away from the frogs, two hwameis were having a singing competition.

The Chinese hwamei (Gabichoガビチョウ) is recorded as being imported from China for their beautiful songs as early as in the 18th century but hadn't been recognised in the wild until the 1980s. Since then for a while, they were found only in localised areas. Now they seem to have sped up spreading far and wide and it's not so difficult to see/hear them in Chiba. 

Okusa is not very large but is full of signs of wildlife.