Cairns August 2026 II

Sacred kingfisher 

Peaceful dove (left) & Spotted dove 

Peaceful doves & Feral pigeons

Spangled drongo

Brown honeyeater

Varied honeyeater

Australian swiflets 

After an agonising and, at the same time, enjoyable half day on the Esplanade, we managed to check in our room and had a peaceful nap 😴

Cairns August 2026 I

We went to Cairns in September 2025 and fell in love with it 💘

So, we went back! 

The flights from Tokyo (Narita) to Cairns are always overnight and arrive in Cairns at 4.30😪

We just needed a gentle stroll on the Esplanade to keep us awake till the hotel would allow us to check in.

The tide was out. You'd think it is winter in Australia and you're not wrong, but Cairns is tropical and the sun can be very strong during the daytime 😎

The birds we spotted on the arrival day were the ones which are common and resident in Cairns.

The most popular and well-known bird:

Laughing Kookaburra

Welcome swallows 

White-breasted Woodswallow

Australian white ibis

Masked lapwing

White-headed stilts

Crested tern

Magpie-lark

Grey-faced Buzzard

As birds started singing from dawn, Swallows and Grey-faced buzzards (Sashibaサシバ) are coming back from their wintering grounds in the south. It's SPRING! 

These buzzards are amphibian & reptile hunters and this lovely lady (I think it's SHE) was perching above a paddy field full of frog calls. Hope she will find her mate soon.(or she possibly has!) 

Japanese Pheasant

 On the grassy area around the paddy fields, there were at least 4 Japanese pheasants (Kijiキジ) calling (crowing?) and wing beating claiming their territories each other. 

a beautiful male

one rival male

flapping his wings with harsh coo-coo calls

I could not find females this time but probably they are in the vicinity of the males, keeping a sharp eye on which male is the most suitable for her🩷

Natsume-no-seki (Haccho-seki Reservoir)

One of the famous places for wintering ducks & swans in Chiba is Natsume-no-seki 夏目の堰 Reservoir in Tonosho-machi. The reservoir itself is not so large and located in a rather remote area from any train lines or major roads, which could be one of the factors why birds gather there. 

You can see all the tiny dots on the water, all of which are ducks!! 

The sign board by the water written a few years earlier says there are approximately 3,000 waterfowl wintering here but the number must have gone up to 10-fold, estimated around 30,000 birds on the water this winter.

Lots and lots of Mallard (magamoマガモ), Pintail (Onagagamoオナガガモ), Eurasian wigeon (Hidorigamoヒドリガモ), Baikal teal (Tomoegamoトモエガモ), fewer Spot-billed duck (Karugamoカルガモ), Northern shoveler (Hashibirogamoハシビロガモ), Common pochard (Hoshihajiroホシハジロ), Smew (Mikoaisaミコアイサ), Tufted duck (Kinkurohajiroキンクロハジロ), 

and Great-crested grebe (Kammuri-kaitsuburiカンムリカイツブリ), Little grebe (Kaitsuburiカイツブリ), Eurasian coot (Oobanオオバン)... 

Bewick's swan (Kohakuchoコハクチョウ)

cygnets too😍

Sometimes birds of prey, such as a Goshawk (Ootakaオオタカ) and a Buzzard (Nosuriノスリ) flew right over the water and the ducks were spooked by them. 

If you are a uk birdwatcher, you'd think the birds in this photo are Starlings...

but actually they are Baikal teals.

The way Baikal teals fly is totally different from the ones other ducks do.

very interesting!!

As the day went by, more and more swans were coming back from their feeding grounds,

and the ducks, which were resting during the day, were becoming more and more restless.

About half an hour after sunset, there was a whoosh sound in the almost darkness, which meant the ducks flew up at the same time heading for their feeding grounds at night. 

Interestingly, on that day, the Baikal teals went first, then the Pintails and the last was the Mallard. 

The swans stayed behind on the water.

I didn't know this coming in of swans and going out of ducks are happening every dawn and dusk! 

so fascinating!!

Happy New Year 2026!!

Kujukuri

On a very, very hot day, I joined a seabird breeding colony survey in Kujukuri.

Black-tailed gulls (Uminekoウミネコ) with a couple of terns. (Common terns?)

A lone Little tern (Koajisashiコアジサシ)

Hundreds of Streaked shearwaters (O-mizunagidoriオオミズナギドリ) over the sea 😀🌊

I'd never be tired of watching shearwaters... so cool👍