It snowed yesterday. Apparently, it was already third time this season to snow in Tokyo, but for me it was the first time to see any. I was hoping to capture birds in snowy landscape and rushed to my favourite garden. As soon as I arrived and took my gear out of my back bag a male red-flanked bluetail greeted me. He didn’t seem to be much bothered by my presence and let me photograph from rather close distance. There wasn't much snow at all and my model avoided the areas where the layer of snow was somewhat thicker. I bet it was easier to find food where the earth was not covered with snow.
I was also lucky to find a female red-flanked bluetail. She let me know of her presence by her call. Her territory is next to the male’s and the two bluetails often have territory disputes along the borderline of their territories. This time the male wasn’t close, so I didn’t get to witness any fighting.
While it was still snowing, I went to see whether the Japanese apricot trees had reached full bloom yet and whether I could find any birds there. After some waiting a flock of Japanese tits and Japanese white-eyes arrived to savour of the blossoms, some of which were already in bloom.
I managed to see a glimpse of a male daurian redstart as well. Usually they get accustomed to people very easily, but this one, despite of the fact that it has been in the garden for long time already, is still very skittish and flies away as soon as someone approaches it.
I didn’t manage to capture the kind of images I was hoping for as the weather was a little too warm for snow to accumulate. I keep hoping to get some more snow this winter!
昨日雪が降って、所々ほんの少し積もったからカメラを持っていつものフィールドに行くことにしました。
着いたら、オスのルリビタキが直ぐに迎えに来てくれました。次第に人に慣れて来て、近い距離から撮れましたが、雪がもっと積もったところでは餌は見つかりにくいせいか、雪を避けているように行動していました。
鳥運が良いことにメスのルリビタキも見つけました。縄張りはオスの縄張りと隣接し、良く縄張り争いもあったが、今回はドラマチックなシーンに恵まれなかったです。
雪はまだ舞ううちに近くの梅林に行ってみました。梅の一部は綺麗に咲いていました。少し待ったところにメジロやシジュウカラの群れがやって来ました。オスのジョウビタキも一瞬顔を出しました。普段人懐っこい鳥ですが、この個体は中々人に慣れなくて、近づいたら、すぐに逃げます。
雪と鳥の共演を望んでいましたが、雪は思ったより少なかった為、思うような写真にならなかったです。今年の冬もう一度雪が降ってくれないかな？
Red-flanked Bluetail, male ルリビタキ、オス
Red-flanked Bluetail, male ルリビタキ、オス
Red-flanked Bluetail, female ルリビタキ、メス
Japanese white-eye メジロ
Japanese Tit シジュウカラ
Daurian Redstart, male ジョウビタキ、オス