ミソサザイ — Nature Blog

The winter wren is the smallest bird in Japan along with the goldcrest. They are both about 10 cm in size. While goldcrest is often feeding high on trees, the winter wren is spending most of it's time on the ground moving dexterously in the cover of a dense undergrowth making it difficult to find. This week, I have tried to capture both of these tiny birds.

Earlier this week, I spent one afternoon in a garden close to my home where I was happy to encounter with a winter wren that has been living there for some weeks already. It is a rare visitor to the garden, so many photographers and bird enthusiasts have been searching for it and pointing their cameras and binoculars towards it. It is now fairly accustomed to humans and is somewhat easy to photograph, if you manage to find it in the big garden. The problem is light, though, or the lack of it to be correct, so one has to compromise on either shutter speed or ISO... or both! Still, I am happy with the captures I got!

While I have been lucky with the wren, I have been less lucky with the goldrcrest. I was tipped by acquaintances about a place where goldcrests often bade in a small pond. I spent two days waiting for the tiny birds to arrive to the pond. I detected them close by a few times, but unfortunately, they would not come down for a bath. It is possible that I will have to wait till the next winter before I can get another chance as they will leave Tokyo any day to return to cooler climates for nesting.

日本一小さい鳥

今週は日本一小さい鳥のミソサザイとキクイタダキの撮影に挑戦しました。

キクイタダキが高い木の枝で食事を探すのに対して、ミソサザイは暗い藪の中で天敵に気づかれないように動いているから、両方とも写真に収めるのは一苦労です。

運よく近所の公園にここ何週間か住み着いているミソサザイを見つけることが出来ました。多くのカメラマンのアイドルなので、人馴れしているから、簡単に近づく事が出来たのですが、暗い為、シャッター速度やISO感度を妥協しなければならなかったです。でも、撮れてとても嬉しいです。

キクイタダキに関しまして、頻繁に水浴びに来る場所の情報をゲットしました。珍しい光景なので丸２日間池のよこで粘りましたが、降りてこなかったです。そろそろ山に帰る時期なので、次のチャンスはまた今度の冬までに待たなければならないかもしれません。

Instead of my usual parks in central Tokyo, in recent days I have taken the train to Mizumoto Park in Northern part of Tokyo in search for different bird species.

I came across with some new acquaintances such as Asian Brown Flycatcher, Winter Wren and Scaly Thrush as well as many species commonly found in central Tokyo, too; the Daurian Redstart, Red-flanked bluetail, Hawfinch and Bull-headed Shrike to name a few. I also found many ducks and other water fowl, which I intend to share later.

Local photographers feed some of the birds so they are rather used to photographers and are easily approachable. Otherwise, especially the winter wren, one of the smallest birds in Japan, would be very difficult to find and capture in the dense underbrushes if you don’t visit the park frequently enough to learn their usual routes.

I was very surprised to find Asian Brown Flycatcher as it usually migrates to warmer climates for winter. For some reason, it has decided to stay and I am hoping the weather doesn’t get too cold for many consecutive days so that it can survive the Tokyo winter.

Another happy encounter was the Dusky Thrush. For some reason they have been very few in numbers this year, so I was happy find one trying to camouflage among the grasses and fallen leaves.

最近はいつもの東京中心部の公園と違ってちょっと遠くの水元公園に野鳥を探しに行っています。自分はあまり縁がなかったトラツグミ、コサメビタキ（東京越冬中）、ミソサザイの他、馴染みのジョウビタキ、ルリビタキ、シメ、モズなどに出逢いました。カモ類や他の水鳥ももちろん沢山いました。今年数が少ないと感じているツグミも枯れ草や枯葉の中に隠れようとしていました。