The Bigger Spoon

Guess I'm easily attracted by birds with spoon shaped bill, but isn't that the same with any other birders. These photos were taken on March 20, just few days before I left Japan. After finding a pair of Eurasian Oystercatchers at Wajiro, I went to Imazu which is on the opposite side of Hakata Bay. Deep in my heart, I wished that I'd be able to get photos of the Black-faced Spoonbills up close, since even after 2 visits I still haven't got any photo of them at close range. After my arrival at the train station, I quickly took the bus to the birding area. I then walked to the river where the spoonbills roosted and as I arrived, I was completely speechless when I saw that the tide was extremely low and the spoonbills were walking right before my eyes!

Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor) in breeding plumage

Landing

An immature bird; notice black primaries tip

Probably an even younger bird; note smooth upper mandible

Bill looks pinkish from below

The total number of the spoonbills seemed to drop a little bit compared to the last time I visited in January. I also didn't see any Eurasian Spoonbill, the species I photographed up close last time. This time, even though Black-faced Spoonbills were all over the place, it was not too easy to get decent photos of them. They seemed to be a bit shyer than the Eurasian Spoonbill I found. However, by hiding behind the sea wall and slowly approaching, I could get some pretty good shots that at least could satisfy me well.

Feeding in flock with Great Cormorants

Note different amount of yellow on facial skin

This one looks pretty typical for breeding Black-faced Spoonbill

The birds seemed to favour feeding near the river mouth where I photographed a flock of Falcated Ducks. They gathered and fed in group along with a large number of Great Cormorants and some Great Egrets. Unfortunately, the birds flew out as I tried to get closer since the cormorants were really wary and flew out as soon as they saw me, so the spoonbills also followed them. They landed some hundreds metres away and started feeding again.

Birdscaping with an immature bird

An obliging individual with large yellow spot on the face

Wading through the mud searching for preys

I enjoyed taking photos of them all through the afternoon and as the sun was about to set, a bird in almost full breeding plumage came walking towards me. This individual seemed to be the most obliging one. It shows unusually large yellow spot on the lores making it look somewhat unlike Black-faced Spoonbill. However, after going through archives of images of Black-faced Spoonbills, I found that it's not too unusual for them to have this characteristic.

Feeding on a small crab

It took almost 3 minutes for this bird to finish its meal.

Finally swallowed!

Spring Fever

These photos of the Red-breasted Mergansers (Mergus serrator) were taken on the same day as the Falcated Ducks in the post below. There was a small flock of 2 drakes, 2 females and 1 eclipse or immature male. It was interesting to see that the female was actually the one that performed courtship display. One of the males seemed to be an immature bird showing black and brown feathers on wing coverts. I was pleased to finally get decent shots of this beautiful species in good light and also at a considerably close range. Despite its abundance, it's never easy to get good shots of this species.

Same as the Falcated Ducks, I could take photos of these mergansers closely because there was a high wall along the river bank for me to hide behind. They seemed to be a bit more confiding than the Falcated Ducks but constantly dived into the water searching for food, so it was still not very easy to photograph them. The eclipse/immature male looked quite scary and ugly with black patches on its face. It's also strange to see it being attracted to the adult male.

Eclipse/immature male

Female

Male bird showing its bright red foot

Stretching

The other drake that had dark feathers on wing coverts seemed to be isolated from the group. It mostly stayed alone closer to the bank, so after getting photos of the main group, I easily got some decent shots of it before all of them flew out as a big group of people came passing by.

Note dark feathers on white wing coverts

Falcated Ducks

So finally, it's my first post from Thailand. It's 32°C when I landed in Bangkok and 35°C when I arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday. It's such a sharp contrast between the temperature of the place where I came from. It was raining once again in Fukuoka on the morning I departed, after a period of extremely nice spring-like weather. I guess the city will be filled with cherry blossom soon. I was able to visit Fukuoka much more often due to my parents visit during the graduation ceremony. We mainly stayed in Fukuoka, since it's much more convenient to travel around using shinkansen. These photos of the stunning Falcated Ducks (Anas falcata) were taken on March 3, during my survey visit before my parents came to Japan. The same flock of this beautiful duck still remained in quite a good number exactly at the same area where I photographed them last time in January. I wasn't so satisfied with the photos I got that time, so I visited the place to give it another try and it turned out even better than what I expected.

Male Falcated Duck (Anas falcata)

Female

Another drake with bronzer gloss on the head

It was actually very dark and overcast when I first arrived at Imazu in the early morning. I tried to capture a flock of these ducks floating around in the middle of the river mouth, but failed to get any decent shot. After about an hour of hanging around in the area, the sun suddenly broke through and the sky suddenly became very clear. It was quite magical and I felt thankful for whatever factor that made all the clouds disappear. I finally got all the shots that I wanted from this stunning and endangered duck before I had to leave Japan.

My guess is that it was yawning!

I really like the elongated tertial feathers of the drake

The individual with bronzer head and one of its females

The drake with bronzer green glossed feathers seemed to be more popular than the one with normal green head. It was accompanied by 2 other females which followed around everywhere. The total number of the Falcated Ducks on that day seemed to be around 20 individuals, a little lower than last time but still considerably good. Only these 2 drakes and 3 females were close enough for me to get decent shots. Others seemed to be more satisfied staying in the middle of the river.

The colour shifted rapidly according to angle and light

I noticed how females also have slight purplish gloss on the head.

Another preening shot

A short handheld video clip of the drake to finish this post