Return of summer

This afternoon I went out to Sekinoe and Furuichi area and came across a couple of local birders looking for some birds in the lotus fields. After some talk, I realised that they were looking for a pair of Greater Painted-Snipes which they saw flying into the field. I joined the search and shortly after that, I found a female bird hiding in a ditch between the lotus field and the reed. It lowered itself down as we started to approach. I decided to lie down on the ground waiting for it to come up. However, after hours of waiting (I really lied on the ground for couple of hours!), all of a sudden it just flew out. But what I got while lying on the ground was an obliging male bird which came walking right by my side! Still worth the wait anyway.

Male Greater Painted-Snipe

I was totally surprised by how relaxed and unaware it was.

Male Greater Painted-Snipe

Here's the more colourful but notoriously patient female!

Right there, it's just right there!

It actually let us get pretty close, but only when it's doing this camouflage pose.

I can hardly think of any bird that can be more patient than a female Greater Painted-Snipe. It's hard to believe how it can just sit in the water for hours without moving. I thought one hour would be the maximum but I was dead wrong. Now I don't know how to get a decent photo of this beautiful bird, especially without a hide, which I didn't bring back to Japan with me this time. Guess I'll just need to wait a little bit more for them to start building a nest, then I might figure out something.