Kyoto University Botanical Garden 3-30-2012

Kyoto University Botanical Garden 3-30-2012


Partly cloudy, about 9 degrees C, 4:00 - 4:30 pm


Little Egret:  1 (feeding in the pond)


Varied Tit: 1 (in leafless tree beside pond (perhaps eating insects))


Great Tit: (in leafless tree beside pond (perhaps eating insects; also singing))


Japanese White Eye: (in leafless tree beside pond (perhaps eating insects; in a group)


Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker: 1


Rufous Turtle Dove: 4 (2 pairs)


Brown-eared Bulbul: more then 15 (in groups)


Pale Thrush (probably): 1 (flying low and fast across our path; then hiding in the brush)

Kyoto University Botanical Garden 3-29-12

Kyoto University Botanical Garden 3-29-2012

Sunny, balmy, about 12 degrees C

Brown-eared Bulbul: 5 drinking from their  sun-illuminated perches along low-hanging tree branches above the the edge of the pond near the greenhouses; it is unusual to see this behavior in Brown-eared Bulbuls, who usually stay high in tall trees all morning, eating fruits and nectar, and peering down at all the goings on below, and jabbering, screeching and cooing to each other constantly)  (perhaps the drinking behavior seen today is typical of Brown-eared Bulbuls on a late afternoon at the sun-illuminated edge of this pond.

Great Tit: 1 (male singing)

Japanese Bush Warbler:  1 (male, singing)

Crow (Carrion crow, I think): 2 in tall trees, near each other (a male/ female pair?)

Then, an hour later:

Demachiyanagi Station area:

Barn Swallow  2 (standing beside one other on a telephone wire).

Kyoto University Botanical Garden 3-28-12

Kyoto University Botanical Garden  3-28-2012


11:30 am - 12:00 pm

Cloudy, Intermittent sprinkles of rain, 8 degrees C


Birds seen:


Little Egret:  1  (Stirring up the mud in the pond with its feet to find food)

Brown-eared Bulbul:  More than 8

Varied Tit: 1 (preening)

Great Tit: 1 (singing)

Japanese Grosbeak: 2 (singing loud and sweet)

Crow: 2 (or more) In tall, densely-leaved trees

Kamogawa River at Demachiyanagi Station 3-27-12

Kamogawa River at Demachinagi Station in Kyoto  3-27-2012

9:00 - 9:30 am

Sunny,  About 7 degrees C,  Calm

Birds Seen:

Great Cormorant:  4

Mallard:  12 male/female pairs, and 5 unpaired males

Eurasian Wigeon:  9 male/femaie pairs, and 3 unpaired males (chasing after a male/female pair)

Pintail:  1 ale/female pair, basking on a big stone

Spot-billed Duck:  1 male/female pair

Gray Heron:  3

Little Egret:  3

Black-headed Gull:  1 (flying low)

Kite: 5 (soaring)

Dusky Thrush:  1

Tree Sparrow:  1

Brown-eared Bulbul  2

Barn Swallow: 1 (a classic sign of spring! yeah!)(the first swallow I've
                         seen this year)

White Wagtail:  1

Japanese Wagtail:  1

Carrion Crow:  4  Flying high

Feral Rock Pigeon:  (6)

Kyoto University Botanical Garden 3-26-12

Kyoto University Botanical Garden  3-26-2012

9:00 am - 10:00

Mostly cloudy,  About 7 degrees C,  Calm

Birds seen:

Little Egret:  1 (Feeding in shallow pond)

Rufous Rurtle Dove:  3

Brown-eared Bulbul:  About 15

Bull-headed Shrike:  1 

Pale Thrush:  1  (heard)

Varied Tit:  1 (singing)

Long-tailed Tit:  2 (pair with curved tails, indicating they're nesting)

Oriental Greenfinch:  1 (sunning himself; didn't seem to be a member of a flock)

Japanese Grosbeak:  About 10

Carrion Crow:  1

Osaka Nankou Bird Sanctuary

Osaka Nankou Bird Sanctuary (Osaka Nankou Yatchoen) 3-25-2012

9:30 am - 1:30 pm

Mostly sunny,  7 degrees C,  Windy

Ocean: Slightly rough (white caps about 2 m); Tide at 9:30: high (mud flats covered up to reedy areas)
                                                                           Tide at 1:30: lower (mud flats partially exposed)

Went with: Osaka Branch members of Wild Bird Society of Japan (total number about 10)

Birds seen:


Great Cormorant: 3

Gray Heron: 7

Mallard: 2 (1 male and 1 female (pair))

Spot-billed Duck: 23

Pochard: 1

Eastern Marsh Harrier: 1

Kentish Plover:  more than 10

Herring Gull: 2

Rufous Turtle Dove:  4

White Wagtail:  3

Brown-eared Bulbul:  more than 40

Bull-headed Shrike: 1

Daurien Redstart:  1

Japanese White-eye:  more than 5

Oriental Greenfinch:  2

Tree Sparrow: 5

Gray Starling: 5

Carrion Crow:  2


Other wildlife seen:


Quite a few really cute, gray, skinny little lizards (about 6 cm long, with much of that 6 cm consisting of a long, snakey tail that gives them their name: Kanahebi (in Japanese), meaning a kind of "snake". They were escaping as a group away from my footsteps as I walked down a grassy hillside. This is the first time I've ever seen them  :-)

Hattori Ryokuchi Koen 3-24-2012

Hattori Ryokuchi Koen (in Osaka) 3-24-2012

7:30 am - 9:30 am

Intermittent light rain (since yesterday),   9 degrees C,  Windy

Birds seen:

Great Cormorant: 1 (flying)

Mallard (mostly in male/female pairs) total: 12

Spot-billed Duck  (some in male/female pairs) total: 40

Eurasian Wigeon  (some in male/female pairs) total: 8

Northern Shoveler (some in male/female pairs) total: 12

Falcated Teal (some in male/female pairs) total: 6

Pochard: 2

Tufted Duck: 1


Black-crowned Night Heron: 1


Gray Heron: 3 (2 of which were standing very close to each other -- a pair?)

European Coot:  5

Common Gallinule:  4

Rufous Turtle Dove:  5

Common Kingfisher (heard): 1

White Wagtail: 2

Pale Thrush: 1

Dusky Thrush: 1

Bush Warbler: 1 male (singing)

Great Tit: 2 (singing)

Varied Tit: 1

Long-tailed Tit: 2

Japanese White-eye: more than 10 (twittering in blooming red plum trees)

Black-faced Bunting: 2


Oriental Greenfinch: 15

Tree Sparrow: 20

Carrion Crow: 20

Jungle Crow:  2