A few left over images of Mie birds from last week

Grey Plover at sunrise.

Garganey; a regular migrant at this time of year.

Little Grebe; this nest is bigger and stronger every time I see it.

Juvenile Little Ringed Plover.

Adult Little Ringed Plover.

Whimbrel.

Nesting Little Grebes and a few bits and pieces across the fields

It's rare to see a wild bird actually lay an egg. Usually laying takes place out the sight of prying eyes, whether in a deep-cupped or domed nest, a tree cavity, high overhead in a tree or on a cliff ledge. Even ground nesters tend to select a site with surrounding cover. Grebes are some of the few birds which can sometimes have more exposed nest sites but it still takes luck to be in the right place at the right time; luck or more patience than I have.


Last week I was in the right place at the right time as my attention was caught by a pair of trilling Little Grebes swimming quickly in my direction towards some sparse reeds. To my surprise one of them leapt out of the water onto a nondescript soggy patch of waterlogged vegetation and promptly laid an egg. This female then slipped off, dived and I didn't see her again while the male floated around occasionally slapping more gloopy material to the morass. Just before I left the male climbed onto the platform and began fanning the egg with rapid wingbeats, presumably because of the midday heat though I'd have thought that it was sitting in a puddle would have been doing the job just fine.

The weight of the female was enough to tilt the platform causing water to spill across. The male on the right is bringing more material to add to the 'structure'.

The male remained in attendance during the 10-15 minutes I was present.

About 30 seconds of rapid wingbeats was presumably to cool the egg.

And even a little backward fanning.

Little Grebes may build a number of trial platforms before selecting one for the nest but it seems this pair may have been a tad behind on the construction front.


When I returned three days later the premature excuse for a nest, and its egg, was abandoned and in even worse condition than it had been. However after a few minutes I spotted another platform, actually worthy of the name nest, containing two eggs.

The three-day-old egg slowly sinking into the fly-covered mess.

And this is how it should be done.

Egrets were definitely on the move, both Eastern Cattle and Intermediate have reappeared across the fields and were taking advantage of widespread grass cutting around the berms. Another migrant coming through now is Pacific Golden Plover but they can be far more difficult to find as suitable fields are far fewer. However there were pretty good numbers last week, I saw even more of them than the ever present Grey-headed Lapwing. The most unexpected sighting in the rice fields was a Ruddy-breasted Crake. On the rare occasions I see them, or more often hear them, they're in more marshy areas with reeds and pools. This individual crossed the narrow farm road in front of me but despite it being fairly close I could only manage a poor quality shot through the windscreen.

A luck shot through the windscreen of a Ruddy-breasted Crake just before it disappeared into the rice crop.



In contrast to the Crake, Eastern cattle and Intermediate Egrets are conspicuous throughout the area.

Pacific Goldies were in reasonably good numbers last week, I found small parties on several fields.

Grey-headed Lapwings are a fixture here but I never tire of seeing them.

Spring is really here

Yesterday I went up into the Shiga prefecture forest then down to Lake Biwa just to see how the season is changing; and it is.


My first frogs were singing in both forest and fields, Barn Swallows have even reached northern Shiga and evening bats are out in force. On the down side, Lake Biwa is looking relatively birdless and big finch flocks have all but disappeared from the forest.


I didn't arrive until after daybreak and unsurprisingly I was too late for the pre-dawn scops owl chorus so I was amazed to hear one briefly at 08:05. Equally unexpected I didn't hear my first displaying Copper Pheasant until 08:25. I had already seen a female by then but a bird flushed unseen against the low sun through thick vegetation was my only other encounter.


Another very close Japanese serow was impossible to photograph as it bolted down hill (how do they do that?) and a White's Thrush also managed to thwart my best efforts to get a single shot of it. White's is a species I come across from time to time around Lake Biwa in winter but this is the first I can recall finding in the hills in spring. This Varied Tit on the other hand was far more confiding...

 

 

Once down from the hills another thrush was the first bird of interest, a female Dusky x Naumann's intergrade. This was an obvious intergrade and the first I've seen for some time, years in fact, so it was unfortunate that a farmer chose that moment to drive up behind me on a single track road and by the time I got back to the spot the bird had gone. Another good bird with no photographic evidence!


The narrow valley between the hills did provide a few good opportunities though. Two flocks of Rooks were grubbing around on the fields and an Eastern Buzzards was reasonably approachable.

 

 

 

 

Unlike in Kyoto where it's often necessary to stake out your cherry blossom picknick spot from first thing in the morning this family had it all to themselves. My Copper Pheasant hills are in the background and the fields in the foreground were full of buntings, Common Snipe and popular with fly-over Eastern Marsh Harriers and another Eastern Buzzard. There were also a couple of Green Pheasants - it's always nice to see both species in a day.

Common Snipe: I'm cheating here, I got this shot a few days ago in Mie.

 

 

Rustic Buntings.

I spent a lot of time looking at Reed Buntings here, the variation intrigued me when I came to Japan many years ago and it was good to see a number of birds feeding in the open. But more of that another time. Further south along the lake I spotted a tractor ploughing a field. This is usually a good chance to sift through wagtails and pipits but on this occasion the field was full of Black Kites.

Black Kites following the plough.

 

 

 

 

Before heading home, or rather before joining an endless queue of traffic heading for Kyoto, I couldn't resist this Little Grebe bathing in the late afternoon sunshine.

List of species recorded:-
Copper Pheasant   1 female, a male heard and another bird flushed
Green Pheasant   1 plus 1 heard
Eurasian Wigeon   100s
Mallard   widespread in low numbers
Eastern Spot-billed Duck   common
Northern Shoveler   30-40
Eurasian Teal   c20
Tufted Duck   20-30
Little Grebe   2-3
Great Crested Grebe   several displaying pairs
Grey Heron   common
Great White Egret   c20
Little Egret   3
Great Cormorant   c10
Black Kite   common
Eastern Marsh Harrier   3
Hen Harrier   1
Eastern Buzzard   2
Common Coot   1000s
Grey-headed Lapwing   4
Common Snipe   c25
Common Gull   7
Black-headed Gull   c15
Rock Dove   several
Oriental Turtle Dove   widespread
Japanese Scops Owl   1 heard
Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker   2 heard
dendrocopos sp   2-3 heard
Japanese Woodpecker   1 plus 2 drumming and 2 calling
Jay   c10
Rook   2 flocks totalling c80
Carrion Crow   common
Large-billed Crow   common
Great Tit   fairly common in the forest
Coal Tit   several, numbers way down compared to previous trip
Varied Tit   common in the forest
Willow Tit   surprisingly none!
Barn Swallow   several
Long-tailed Tit   common
Skylark   common
Brown-eared Bulbul   common
Japanese Bush Warbler   several singing
Japanese White-eye   common in the forest whereas it has been scarce recently, the reverse of Coal and Willow Tits.
Wren   3 heard
White-cheeked Starling   several
White's Thrush   1
Pale Thrush   8
Dusky Thrush   common
Dusky x Naumann's intergrade   1
Red-flanked Bluetail   1
Daurian Redstart   1 heard
Eurasian Tree Sparrow   common
White Wagtail   several
Japanese Wagtail   1 heard
Buff-bellied Pipit   1 heard
Oriental Greenfinch   common
Eurasian Siskin   2 flocks heard
Eurasian Bullfinch   2-3 heard
Japanese Grosbeak   c150 plus smaller numbers here and there overhead
Meadow Bunting   common
Rustic Bunting   c10
Reed Bunting   common


Japanese serow   1
sika deer   1 plus c8 heard

Quails again!

One of my main targets in Mie a couple of days ago was to see how the wintering Long-billed Dowitchers' moult was progressing. Unfortunately none were on show at dawn so I wandered off to see what else might be about.


First up was a male Kestrel, I hadn't seen it the day before but it was hard to miss now. On the same stretch of fields I came across a sleeping red fox curled up in the open, this was a personal first here and it struck me as odd that it be so exposed. The reason became obvious when it finally made off into cover, it was clearly suffering from mange.



The Dowitchers still weren't putting in an appearance so ridiculous as it seemed to me I decided to see if the Japanese Quails were visible this morning.

The field I'd seen them in the day before is about 75 metres square with four or five tractor-wide breaks running through. What chance could there possibly be of seeing them again? As I rolled up to the field something leapt from the surrounding berm into the crops. Had I not been looking for Quail I'd have presumed I'd just seen a rodent, a rat or something, but this didn't look long and sleek as a leaping rodent might. It was a Quail... unbelievable. I moved about 15 metres forward hoping it might come across the next berm and there was another Quail coming the other way. The same incredible bullet-like direct leap with no obvious wing movement at all. Again suggestive of a rodent rather than a bird. Are there only two Quail in this field? What are the odds of going to see a difficult species like this and seeing both birds within less than a minute. If there are only two I think I've used my entire supply of birding luck for 2016.

 

 

 

This Kestrel was loyal to a short stretch of road, present each time I passed on my way to check if the Dowitchers were viewable.

The closed eye and the fact that it was sleeping in the open ought to have been enough to suggest something was seriously wrong with the animal but I was still shocked to see the extent of mange when it made off.

Then it was back to check-out the Dowitcher pool again. The Eurasian Teal and Little Grebes were performing well.

 

 

 

 

And the Dowitchers? Yes I did catch up with them eventually, including the short-billed Long-billed Dowitcher of a previous post. More of them later.