Kyushu's Problem

While birders in the northern parts of Japan enjoy breathtaking views of colourful summer migrants like flycatchers and robins, here in the south, it is always either the forest is way too dark or the birds are just not cooperative. After taking photos of the Japanese Hare in the earlier post, I walked up hill to Otobaru Waterfall. Along the way, I came across a pair of Narcissus Flycatchers which seemed to be nesting somewhere up on the slope. The female was repeatedly coming back with food in its mouth and the male was doing look-out while giving soft high-pitched call constantly. Believe me, below are already the best shots I could get.

Male Narcissus Flycatcher

Male birds in spring show bright orange throat.

Close but definitely not a nice angle

While photographing the Narcissus, I heard a loud bird singing just above my head and it was a male Blue-And-White Flycatcher, another common species that's really difficult to photograph in Kyushu or at least, Beppu. It didn't care much about me taking photos of it with flash but it just kept perching up there on the higher branches.

A more showy but never came down to lower branches, Blue-And-White Flycatcher

It was singing so loudly and aggressively.

Really never came down

Eventually, it got much too dark for me to take any photo, so I decided to walk back. Along the way, there was a small group of Varied Tit fledglings with their parents feeding in the bamboos. I think it's the first time for me to see young Varied Tit. I actually thought they were Coal Tits when I first saw them with bare eyes. Other birds found along the way included several Japanese Green Woodpeckers, a super shy species which I can never get a decent shot of, some calling Chinese Bamboo Partridges, several Ryukyu Minivets which kept flying over my head with their loud high-pitched call, and a pair of Grey-capped Greenfinches.

One of the Varied Tit fledglings

Male Grey-capped Greenfinch

Japanese Green Woodpecker, another species which I can never get a decent photo.

Bull-headed Shrike

Yesterday afternoon I went out to Sekinoe area to check the painted-snipes. I came across a pair of male and female but couldn't get any decent shot of them. I wandered around the more forested area and spotted a pair of juvenile Bull-headed Shrikes. This species is always one of the first to nest and fledge around here.

Juvenile Bull-headed Shrike

Without grey back, it looks similar to the scarcer Brown Shrike

It was interesting to see the 2 juvenile shrikes chasing a larger Chinese Hwamei which was singing and feeding in the same area. As usual, it was extremely difficult to get a good photo of. I could at least get some OK-ish shots while it was singing in the dark. Thanks to all Photoshop developers, the processed images look way nicer than the originals.

Chinese Hwamei singing

Showing the streaks on its throat and breast

First time for me to see a juvenile Grey-capped Greenfinch