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)

Watarase Yusuichi

 We saw a good variety of bird species during the trip to Watarase.

Male Meadow bunting (Hoojiroホオジロ) was tweeting above us while we were having lunch. 

lovely fresh green 🍀🌿

Tree sparrows (Suzumeスズメ) were in the tree, but we were not able to make out what they were doing; eating insects or shoots? collecting nest materials? 

Over the drained areas, Black-eared kites (Tobiトビ) were flying low and high.

The temperature went up as the day went on and the views became hazier.

Some flew right over us😍

We spotted quite a few Japanese pheasants (Kijiキジ) skulking in the vegetation.

A small group of Falcated ducks (Yoshigamoヨシガモ) in the river.

We saw/heard over 40 bird species during the 2 half-day walks. 

Watarase is a  place we would recommend to anyone who loves to see a mixture of birds in different habitats. 

Chishirodai Reservoir

Chishirodai Reservoir is famous for two things; one as a heronry in spring and the other as a wintering place for ducks, especially the Mandarin duck.

Mandarin ducks seem to like the very edge of the water, which means they are normally at the furthest end of the reservoir from the path. Even from the distance, the males' gorgeous plumage is very much visible👍

Other ducks are wintering here as well, such as Mallards (magamoマガモ), Shovelers (hashibirogamoハシビロガモ), Gadwalls (okayoshigamoオカヨシガモ) and Pintails (onagagamoオナガガモ), and they tend to be in the middle of the lake.

a Little egret (kosagiコサギ) 

Cormorants (kawauカワウ)

Mallards, Spot-billed ducks (karugamoカルガモ), a young Black-crowned night heron (goisagiゴイサギ) and a Kingfisher (kawasemiカワセミ)

A Black kite (tobiトビ) flew high over the reservoir, which was nice, adding more variety of birds to my sighting list😍

I will come back next month to see if early breeding birds like Grey herons have started to refurbish their old nest/build a new nest.

Ecology Park (I'm back!)

It's September, it's in the middle of September, and yet it is incredibly HOT and HUMID in Chiba. 

I'm back to Chiba and have been trying back to bird-watching life. 

To start with, I went back to the Ecology Park in Aoba no Mori Koen, Chiba.

very calm and peaceful🌳

A juvenile Kingfisher (Kawasemiカワセミ) appeared from nowhere and perched on the pole😍

6 Spotbilled Ducks (Karugamoカルガモ) were foraging on water. 

a graceful Great White Egret (Daisagiダイサギ)

had a private matter... sorry! 😄

moss growing on a wooden bridge

A Chinaberry (Sendanセンダン) tree laden with fruits

An one-hour walk was very satisfying, although there weren't many bird species to see. 

Probably the weather will change in a week or so (I do hope so!), then some wintering birds will have arrived.

Early September in Imbanuma

 It could be a bit too late, we thought, but nevertheless, we headed for Imbanuma to see if Barn swallows (Tsubameツバメ) still use the reedbeds for their roost. 

(we went to see them in 2019 and wrote about it here.)

Before getting dark, we enjoyed the calm September afternoon.

Exclusive Cormorant club😂 (Kawauカワウ)

Cormorant & Egret joint club 

a lone Coot (Oobanオオバン) - Is it a very early one or has it stayed throughout the summer here?

 

Three terns were flying over the edge of the other side of the lake and perched on the poles.

Were they Whiskered terns (Kuroharaajisashiクロハラアジサシ)? too far to see the details.

One Osprey (Misagoミサゴ) was perching on a pole when we got there and was still there when we left the place a few hours later.

 

Young Black-crowned night herons (Goisagiゴイサギ) were playing hide & seek😁

 

They really are hard to spot!

There weren't many ducks apart from resident Spot-billed ducks (Karugamoカルガモ).  

A Pintail (Onagagamoオナガガモ) was foraging among them. 

Is this individual in eclipse plumage? or a juvenile? or a female? 

Now the sun was just over the horizon. Show time!

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!