Spring is around the corner and after weeks hiding from the cold in my apartment, I finally dragged myself outside for some fresh air and a bit of birding.
Around the end of February in Japan, it’s plum blossom season. It’s one of the first big blossom events after the winter but often overshadowed by cherry blossom season which comes in March-April. That being said, the fragrant plum blossoms still attract plenty of people to the groves planted around castles and temples.
In addition to people, the groves also attract many birds with the sweet nectar of their blooms and insect life waking from winter. And when it comes to plum trees, there is one bird, in particular, you can expect to see and which everyone wants a picture of. The Warbling or Japanese White-eye. An olive bird with white spectacles around its eyes, these little birds flit from tree to tree drinking the nectar from the plum blossoms. Sitting atop the blossoms, they make for beautiful spring photos which is why you’ll often see a group of photographers with big telephoto lenses all pointed at the same tree.
To get this same picture, and hoping to find some more birds, I went to Osaka castle park for a late morning of relaxed birding.
Stepping through the castle gate, I entered the grove on the left and began to wander through, keeping an eye out for the birds while basking in the pink clouds of blossoms.
To get the most out of the view, groves of flowering trees are carefully tended and arranged with meandering paths around roped-off patches of trees. This lets people get close enough to the trees for pictures but maintains large patches where birds can land and forage out of reach.
After wandering around, taking some pictures of the castle and the blooming trees, I made my way toward the back of the grove. This area is a little quieter and in the shade of some bigger pine trees and a castle wall. I find it tends to have a little more bird diversity than the more open and active area near the gate.
True to expectations, this is where I found and photographed most of the birds on my outing.
Warbling white-eye / Japanese white-eye
These little birds seemed to usually be in pairs or small groups, hopping among the branches drinking the nectar. They’re fun to watch and hold still long enough to take your pictures before they move on to another branch or tree. They’re also popular as a symbol of spring in Japan, hence why everyone wants to get that perfect flower framed pic of them!
Brown-eared bulbul
I was surprised to see that this bird, larger than the white-eye, was also feeding on the nectar from the blossoms. Although, because of its big size, when it landed on the smaller branches it tended to knock some of the petals loose and scare off the smaller birds.
Daurian redstart
I only saw one of these birds, hanging out at the very back of the grove. Rather than feed on the nectar, this one was foraging on grubs and insects from the ground.
Japanese Tit
I was trying for a picture of this little bird since its black and white head reminded me of the cute chickadees back home. Unfortunately, after getting a picture from behind, it was scared off by someone talking to me and never came back down from the castle walls.
Eurasian sparrow
These birds are common everywhere but still cute to see and easy to snap a picture of.
White wagtail
A speedy little bird that doesn’t sit still for long, running along the ground before flying off.
Dusky thrush
Not 100% sure of this I.D., but seems like this brown bird may be the dusky thrush. It blended in pretty well with the brown leaves and branches, so I only noticed when it moved!
After getting my fill of blossoms and birds at the castle, I headed down to the moat to check out what waterfowl were hanging around. Unfortunately, most of them took off to the far side of the moat, but I managed to get a few pictures of the ones closer to the rail before they swam off.
Eurasian coot
These birds seemed less bothered by people approaching the rail and continued to paddle around, fairly close, just doing their own thing.
Tufted duck
There were quite a lot of these guys swimming around.
Eastern spot-billed duck
I think these are pretty common to see around, the average duck if you will.
Green-winged teal
It was difficult to see the color on these due to the cloudy weather, but after some photo editing, I’m pretty confident I got the ID right.
Redhead duck
This was one of the ducks that was too far away for a good picture, but it stood out for its color. I’ll try for a better picture next time.
All in all, not a bad day. I haven’t tried bird watching in a while, but it was a nice change of pace. I also had a new camera lens to work with which made it fun to try and get pictures of all the birds I was seeing. Now that the weather is warming up, I’m going to try and get out more often and see what else I can find in the parks and gardens around here.
Until next time . . .
Enjoy this fine pigeon!
