Sakura, Chiba

I had wanted to go to Sakura for a while to visit the National Museum of Japanese History and samurai houses still well-preserved in town.

Only a few minute's walk from the JR Sakura station, I found myself in the paddy fields.

A young Grey Heron (Aosagiアオサギ) was standing still just like a decoy! 

There were so many bird songs and calls coming from all directions - Skylarks, Oriental Reed Warblers, Meadow Buntings, Barn Swallows, Grey Starlings, Tree Sparrows, Oriental Greenfinches, Brown-eared Bulbuls, Japanese Pheasants, Japanese Bush Warblers...

Loads of Dragonflies as well

tadpoles

 hmm... a turtle but I do not know which one...

a lonely hybrid duck

The Lake used to be part of the moat in the Castle Park.
(There is no longer a castle there, only some remains scattered in the park.)

Uba-ga-ike in the castle park

the Iris garden in the castle park

Samurai Houses(Buke Yashiki武家屋敷）

Three houses are still open to the public with a small admission fee.

Samurai Path (an old path through thick bamboos)

Sakura is 10 miles northeast from Chiba and it takes only 17 minutes on the JR Narita Line. The National Museum of Japanese History is worth a visit and there are a couple of art museums in town too. For bird-watching, the paddy fields are very good for herons and egrets and the castle park is full of birds as well.

Breeding Season

4 Little Grebe (Kaitsuburiカイツブリ) chicks have hatched in a pond where a pair has bred every year for the last few decades. (It doesn't mean it's been the same pair though).

The pair had 5 eggs and one of them was swallowed by a snake only a day or two before it would have hatched.

10 days later, one of the biggest chicks grew big enough to eat a dragonfly!

A couple of weeks later, all the four chicks were well looked after and they were no longer chicks.

They seemed independent and I guess it wouldn't be long before they left or were expelled from the pond where they were born and the pair would try for the second brood.


A pair of Grey Starlings (Mukudoriムクドリ) were busy carrying food for their chicks.

The Grey Starlings are famous for building their nest in all sorts of nooks and crannies.

Chicks started calling very loudly when a parent arrived at the door (well, there's no door, I know!).  A few days later, they seemed to have fledged as there was no sound coming from the hole.

Grey Starling fledglings foraging in a flock

There are not so many Barn Swallows' (Tsubameツバメ) nests around where we live. I found this in an indoor carpark.

A male Eastern Great Tit (Shijukaraシジュウカラ) was singing in a tree carrying a bit of a caterpillar (it seems) and went into a tree hole.

And then came back with the same bit for some reason.

And went back inside. Is it a nest hole or he did he go in just to find something tasty?

Everyone seems very busy looking after their chicks and partners at the moment:)