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.

Birds in the Southern Part of Boso II

a gorgeous morning of New Year's Eve 

 

a pretty good view of a Brown-headed Thrush (Akaharaアカハラ)

Japanese white-eye (Mejiroメジロ) - very common but hard to take a good photo of

Varied tit (Yamagaraヤマガラ) - wish it was in the light

Black-eared kite (Tobiトビ) again

 

 

not a bird - a lone Japanese Macaque on a field picking up some tiny stuff to eat

Birds in the Southern Part of Boso I

Black-eared Kites (Tobiトビ) are seen almost everywhere, inland or on the coast in Boso, Chiba.

Resting Temminck's Cormorants (Umiuウミウ) and Great Cormorants (Kawauカワウ)

It's almost impossible to tell them apart from a distance! 

A Glaucous-winged gull (Washikamomeワシカモメ) with 3 Black-tailed gulls (Uminekoウミネコ)

The Glaucous-winged gull was on our list of birds which we wanted to see on that day. Yay! 

These were the only gulls seen in the small fishing port then and it felt very strange with so few gulls by the coast. I don't know if it's just this winter or it's normal in the area.

A Grey heron (Aosagiアオサギ) was standing on top of the rock like a lord😆

Osprey (Misagoミサゴ)

I love Ospreys! They are really magnificent (in my opinion!).

 

A Big Round Trip

For the first time in many, many months, we got out of Chiba and headed for Hayama, Kanagawa and made a 'd'-shaped trip around the south part of the bay by car and ferry.

A lot of Black-eared Kites (Tobiトビ) welcomed us at the both ends of the ferry ride.

and Black-tailed gulls (Uminekoウミネコ) as well.

(this one had no foot... poor thing)

It took only 40 minutes from Kanaya, Chiba to Yokosuka, Kanagawa by ferry. We saw quite a few shearwaters shearing the water surface but sadly they were too far away for phototaking. 

 

The sea was very calm, maybe too calm for shearwaters?

At Enawan-higata (江奈湾干潟) in the Miura Peninsula (三浦半島), the mudflat we had expected to see was under water but it was a pleasant place just to walk around.

An old lady who was selling fishing bait threw something outside her hut, then as many as 30 kites were circling above her and swooped down to the ground to get their share.

Some decided to stay on the ground, pecked like a chicken and waited for another batch to come from the lady.

The harbour was an ideal place for White Wagtails (Hakusekireiハクセキレイ) and Blue Rock Thrush (Isohiyodoriイソヒヨドリ).

Near the reed beds, quite a big raft of ducks (Pintails (Onagagamoオナガガモ), Wigeons (Hidorigamoヒドリガモ) and Mallards (Magamoマガモ)) were calling and foraging. They must have arrived quite recently from their breeding grounds.

 

It was just so nice to get out of the house and feel fresh air, especially with birds:)

 Another beautiful morning in the Miura Peninsula🌞

After walking in the woods in the heart of the peninsula to see/hear Chinese Hwameis (Gabichoガビチョウ) (and we found them plenty!), we headed for a pond where someone posted about the sighting of grey buntings the day before. 

We weren't sure what sort of place it would be but it turned out to be a small but well managed nature reserve👍 

A female Daurian Redstart (Jobitakiジョウビタキ) was claiming her winter territory. 

lovely hedges which small creatures would love

We were looking for the habitat where grey buntings may/would find comfortable - in thick bamboo bushes.  Bingo! We heard them calling each other with a very subtle calls. There was no photo as the light wasn't good and they were just seen in between bamboo shrubs but we found them. Yay!

The other side of the bay was similar but different and we would like to come back again in different seasons.