April 16, Doho-koen/AIST in Tsukuba Dear all, The beautiful spring made my daily short bike ride to the institute very pleasant today. There was an unusual vocal flock of about ten Azure-winged magpies behind the Guesthouse at the AIST area next to Doho-koen. The call of the Japanese Sparrowhawk [Tsumi] then explained all this: a beautiful female hawk landed in the pine tree above my head, called a few more times and apparently inspected me for a while before disappearing behind some more distant trees. The magpies protested loudly against all this. Fer-Jan. ========== Spot-billed duck [Karu-gamo] Green-winged Teal [Ko-gamo] Common Gallinule [Ban] Japanese Sparrowhawk [Tsumi] Common pheasant [Kiji] Rufous turtle dove [Kiji-bato] Pygmy woodpecker [Ko-gera] Skylark [Hibari] Brown-eared bulbul [Hiyodori] Brown thrush [Akahara] Dusky thrush [Tsugumi] Bush warbler [Uguisu] Great tit [Shijuu-kara] Long-tailed tit [Enaga] Siberian meadow bunting [Hoojiro] Tree sparrow [Suzume] Gray starling [Mukudori] Jay [Kakesu] Azure winged magpie [Onaga] Jungle crow [Hashibuto-garasu]