I had originally planned to spend a day capturing butterflies, but as the weather turned very cold I took a train to a park in Saitama instead. I knew a pair of Northern goshawks had been building a nest there and I was also hoping I could capture them. When I arrived to the park I learned to my disappointment that the goshawks had abandoned their previous nest and build a new one that was inside a bird sanctuary, somewhat far and much more difficult to see and capture. The female had laid one egg and was inside the nest. The male must have been hunting as one could not see trace of it.
There were two other photographers, too, and we were waiting for some movement inside or close to the nest, but for a long long time only crows were seen flying back and forth and sometimes getting very close to the nest.
The weather turned cloudy and it was getting very cold. I considered giving up and leaving but finally we could hear the two birds calling each other. Encouraged by the calling I decided to stay.
After a long wait, in the afternoon one of the other photographers finally detected the male goshawk on a fallen tree trunk in the bird sanctuary holding a half eaten prey on his grip. It was dark but we were able to photograph it through the holes of the fence. The bird held the prey in his claws and stood still. He was only moving his head every now and then when the crows flew by. A few times we could hear the female calling and the male responding to her, but he kept still.
Two hours after detecting the male goshawk it finally did some stretching, checked that the prey was tightly on his grip and finally took off to take the prey to the female bird.
今日は蝶々を撮る計画をしていたが、寒波のせいで計画を変更し、さいたまにある公園に行きました。オオタカのカップルは巣を作っていることを以前から知っていました。
着いたら、オオタカは前の巣を諦め、公園に隣接するバードサンクチュアリーの中で新しい巣を作っていました。遠くて見えずらい所でした。
メスは一個の卵を産んだらしくて、巣の中にいました。オスの姿は見えなかったです。おそらく狩りをしているだろうと思いました。
他のカメラマンと様子を見ることにしましたが、長い間カラスしか見えなかったです。カラスは騒いだり、たまに巣の直ぐ近くまで行ったりしました。次第に曇り、気温は急激に下がり、諦めようと考えましたが、二羽の呼び合う声が聞こえるようになったから、もう少し粘ることを決めました。
長い待ち時間の末、他のカメラマンがやっとオスを発見しました。サンクチュアリーの中の倒木の上に餌を握りながら立っていました。暗かったですが、フェンスの穴から覗いて、写真を撮れました。
カラスとかの動きを目で追ったり、メスの呼び声に答えたりしたが、動かないままじっとしていました。発見してから、2時間後ストレッチして、餌は爪から落ちないかと確認し、やっとメスに持って行きました。
