Saturday, May 06, 2006

Aomori Holiday - Goshizawakoen

Location: Goshizawakoen, Goshizawa, Aomori-shi, Aomori-ken

Access: Car

Weather: Overcast, Cool, Still

Time: 1.00pm - 2.30pm

Birds: Brown Thrush, Short-tailed Bush Warbler, Goldcrest, Coal Tit, Japanese White-eye, Oriental Greenfinch


Comments: After staring for half an hour at their silhouetted bellies and under-tail covets against the blindingly diffused sunlight of an overcast sky, and with a seriously stiff neck from looking straight up; I had all but given up hope on a positive identification when one bird suddenly flew down low enough from the top of a leafless cedar and showed me his double wing bars, and golden crown - at last, what I had suspected, here was Japans snallest bird, the Goldcrest.

What the mountain top did not give us in number, surely made up for in presenting us with 4 new species for the year - several Goldcrest, a dozen Brown Thrush, a couple of Coal Tit, and a Short-tailed Bush Warbler that we only saw fleetingly but which was easily distinguished by its repeated insect like ascending si-si-si call.

Returning to the observatory built over two levels and decked out with scopes on the top floor, my wifes parents reported having seen an Oriental Turtle Dove and a Narcissus Flycatcher.


2006 Japan Bird Count: 92 Species

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