Kamo-gawa River, Demachiyanagi Station, 6-26-2012

Kamo-gawa River, Demachiyanagi Station, 6-26-2012

8:30 - 9:00, Sunny, About 23 degrees C

There's lots of water in the Kamo-gawa due to all the recent rain, and the river is very fast-flowing today. This led to a Mallard duckling being swept away downstream from its mother this morning, and almost surely lost.... When I first saw her, the mother only had two tiny ducklings swimming after her, and after swimming upstream on the river's right bank to a waterfall about half a meter high (much too high for the ducklings to mount) the mother crossed to the left bank of the rushing river, glancing back to her ducklings only once as she neared the left bank, and immediately thereafter one of her ducklings lost the battle against the rushing, swirling water, and was swept downstream, and soon out of sight.... The mother duck and her one remaining duckling soon stepped ashore and disappeared into the reeds there....

Birds seen:

Great Cormorant 1

Mallard  1 male/female pair foraging
             2 adult-sized juveniles foraging
             1 mother with 2 tiny ducklings (one of which was swept away)

Little Egret 2

Gray Heron 1

Gray Starling 3

Brown-eared Bulbul  2

Barn Swallow  4

Tree Sparrow  About 20

Japanese Wagtail  2 immature  (foraging (mostly unsuccessfully), with much scurrying, and leaping up and down, and almost no flying):

Black Kite  3 (soaring)

Carrion Crow 4 (including 1 juvenle)

(All photos downloaded from the internet. Many thanks to the photographers.)

Kyoto University Botanical Garden, 6-25-12

Kyoto University Botanical Garden, 6-25-12

8:30 - 9:00 am, Just after rain, About 23 degrees C

Birds seen:

Japanese White-eye 8 (in 2 groups)

Great Tit 1

Brown-eared Bulbul  5

Rufous Turtle Dove 1

Gray Starling 6

Tree Sparrow 8

Carrion Crow 4 (including 1 juvenile foraging)

(Photograph downloaded from the internet. Thanks to the photographer.)

Hattori Ryokuchi Koen, 6-17-2012

Hattori Ryokuchi Koen, 6-17-2012

9:30 - 11:00, Mostly cloudy, About 25 degrees C


Birds seen:


Great Cormorant 12 (including many juveniles)

Little Grebe  6 (including one adult/juvenile pair)

(This image of Little Grebes was downloaded from the internet. Many thanks to the photographer.)


Spot-billed Duck  4 (including one one adult/juvenile pair)

Gray Heron 4 (all juveniles: 2 looking for prey; 2 still in the nest, flapping their wings)

Brown-eared Bulbul  8

Great Tit  3 (heard singing, but not seen)

Gray Starling  6

Tree Sparrow  20

Beginners' Birdwatching Schedule for June, 2012

Beginners' Birdwatching Schedule for June, 2012

Beginners’ Birdwatching Group (all in English)

Monday,  June 4, 25:  Kyoto University Botanical Garden; 8:30 – 9:00

Tuesday,  June 5, 19, 26:  Kamogawa River at Demachiyanagi Station

Sightings will be blogged at:  birdsinjapan.blogspot.com

Science Buzz Lunch:

What:  Free discussion in English about what’s new (“the buzz”) in your science  -- everyone interested in science is welcome

Topics discussed will be blogged at:  sciencebuzzlunch.blogspot.com

Where & When:

Monday, June 4, 25:  Building 2, Room 107; 12:00 – 13:00

Friday, June 1, 8, 15, 22, 29:  Bldg 1, Room 214 (Mixer Room); 12:00 – 13:00

Thursday, June  ?, Institute for Chemical Research (Uji Campus);  12:00 – 13:00

                                                          Contact: Elizabeth Nakajima, PhD  (Leader)

                                                                           Building 1, Room 216

Kamo-gawa River at Demachiyanagi Station, 6-05-2012

Kamo-gawa River at Demachiyanagi Station,  6-05-2012

8:30 - 9:00, Cloudy, about 21 degrees C


Birds seen:

It was really fun to see chicks and juveniles of several species newly out of the nest and learning to make their way in the big world of the Kamo-gawa River....

Great Cormorant  1  juvenile, fishing, and later preening

Mallard  4 male/female pairs; and 1 female with her 4 ducklings (already adult-size) feeding on plants in the river

 
Little Egret  3  (one of which looked immature (had a fluffy little upturned tail) and kept running after the Great Cormorant noted above while the cormorant was fishing)

Great Egret  3

Gray Heron  2

Barn Swallow  8 (including some immature (had short tails)) catching insects while flying above the river)

Japanese Wagtail  6  (including one singing atop a willow tree)

Tree Sparrow  many (maybe 25, including many juveniles)

Gray Starling  9  (all together in one willow tree)

Carrion Crow 8 (most flying high in the sky in small groups, but one feeding among the small stones on a rocky sandbar in the Kamo-gawa River)

(All images were downloaded from the internet. Many thanks to the photographers.)