All images copyright. Do not use without permission.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Birds of Japan I

Northern Pintail - male
Northern Pintail - female
Ueno Park, Tokyo

Just back from a fantastic trip to Japan! It was really a sight-seeing holiday but we managed to see quite a lot of birds.

The blossom bloomed where ever we went too - it was amazing! Easy to see why the Japanese love it so much. You can see it floating on the water in these photos. 

Ueno Park is in the middle of Tokyo, it had such a great atmosphere with everyone enjoying the cherry blossom. We had stormy weather the day after and we overheard someone say that all the blossom was blasted off the trees.

According to the field guide, Northern Pintail is an uncommon visitor to parks. I could only see one pair. The male is in breeding plumage.


9 comments:

  1. Great photos of the Pintails. The flower petals on the water are especially beautiful! It sounds like a perfect time of year for a visit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice to see your photos!
    Great shots!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Noticed the blossoms right away.
    These are striking looking ducks but you'd never know they were a pair looking at their different feather patterns.
    Sounds like you had a wonderful trip!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Amanda...The male Pintail is a handsome chap, but poor Mrs is sort of drab reminds me of female mallards!!
    Lovely photos, and the floating petals make them even lovelier !
    Grace

    ReplyDelete
  5. Not seen one of these for a while. Your photos remind me what a great bird I'm missing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice pictures of the pintail.

    Glad you saw some birds - my trip to Japan (mainly cities) was almost bird free!

    Cheers and thanks for linking to WBW.

    Stewart M - Melbourne.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a great trip that must have been! The male Pintail always looks so neat and sharply defined. Very nice photographs!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a great trip you had! And you're a true birder...finding rare ones even when you didn't go there expressly for that purpose. Wonderful pictures...

    ReplyDelete