Tundra Bean Goose

There have been a few wintering Tundra bean geese (Hishikuiヒシクイ) by Lake Imbanuma for the last few winters and this winter three have been seen on the same paddy fields as before.

resting in the middle of the fields

 They started foraging in the fields. Still far...

and flew towards the even farther end of the fields...

 

 There happened to be a Black-eared kite (Tobiトビ) sitting on the field and a flock of Lapwings (Tageriタゲリ) flying over the edge of the patch in one frame.

The geese & lapwings flew because they saw a better option - a working tractor! 

more than 4 Grey herons (Aosagiアオサギ) were following the tractor - one was actually getting a ride on the tractor! and quite a few Lapwings were on the churned up fields. 

Happy evening snacking time!

 

Time for heading back home for us as well. Bye!

Imba-numa

great views of Lake Imbanuma

everybody's favourite, Kanta-kun (great white pelicanモモイロペリカン), not an ornament😁

The gentleman is a friend of Kanta-kun, feeding him from what he has caught in the lake.

Eastern Buzzard (Nosuriノスリ)

Falcated ducks (Yoshigamoヨシガモ)

female Daurian Redstart (Jobitakiジョウビタキ)
 

a pair of Little grebes (Kaitsuburiカイツブリ), they were calling each other many many times.

a sign of spring!

a pair of Moorhens (Banバン), another sign of spring💗

Great white egret (Daisagiダイサギ)

Eastern Marsh Harrier (Chuhiチュウヒ) skimming over the reedbeds

 It was just great to be there, seeing lots of birds within a few hours!

Water Rail

While we were watching waterfowl, a Water rail came out briefly through the reeds just under the bridge we were standing on. We waited for it to come back and it did!

very shy indeed!

 

 

 

 

 

It went back to the shelter very quickly. I like its tail sticking straight up!

It actually came out in the open rather more often than I expected it to do; possibly it felt safe when there were coots and moorhens foraging by the reeds? or it was desperate for food? And this wasn't the only one there, but one or two more were skulking in nearby reeds. wonderful!

Water rails seen in Japan used to be considered as a subspecies of the Water rail Rallus aquaticus,but now they are a species on its own, Rallus indicus, called the Eastern water rail or Brown-cheeked rail in English. Kuina クイナ is its Japanese name. 

(no sound)

Waterfowl

Lake Imbanuma is one of the great wildlife habitats in Chiba and around as it has two large lakes surrounded by reedbeds, paddy fields and some woodlands. It is not particularly protected (very few protected areas in Japan overall anyway) but still, it provides what wildlife needs. 

We went there on a bright, calm day and that's what we saw! 

ducks, ducks, and more ducks!! 

There were Pintails (Onagagamoオナガガモ), Mallards (Magamoマガモ), Spot-billed ducks (Karugamoカルガモ), Teals (Kogamoコガモ), Baikal teals (Tomoegamoトモエガモ), Falcated ducks (Yoshigamoヨシガモ), Smews (Mikoaisaミコアイサ) and

Great crested grebes (Kammuri-kaitsuburiカンムリカイツブリ), Little grebes (Kaitsuburiカイツブリ), Cormorants (Kawauカワウ), Coots (Oobanオオバン), Moorhens (Banバン), Great egrets (Daisagiダイサギ), Little egrets (Kosagiコサギ), Grey herons (Aosagiアオサギ) were seen among the ducks.

Occasionally, ducks were spooked by something and flew up, which was quite a spectacle.

Once a Peregrine falcon (Hayabusaハヤブサ) appeared from nowhere and turned the peaceful scene into chaos. That time luck was on the ducks' side though.