A Morning Impression

Januari 12, 1999

In Tsukuba a typical winter day in januari may be cold and dry with a blue sky. In the night it freezes. Somedays there can be an bonechilling wind of considerable force. Such a wind (the Oroshi) does not seem to start not before 10 am and lasts typically until an hour before sunset. The dust it transports hides Tsukuba-san. On other days, if there is no wind, the sun can make it unexpectedly pleasant.

On such sunny days, birds become very active and visible. Today, Januari 12, 99, was such windless day and with thin ice on the ponds and blessed by the warm sun. On my short bike ride from home via Douhou Koen and the Science Park around ETL I encountered without any special effort:

• Spot-billed Duck Anas poecilorhyncha [Karu-gamo]
• Green-winged Teal Anas crecca crecca [Ko-gamo]
• Northern Pintail Anas acuta [Onaga-gamo]
• Little Egret Egretta garzetta [Ko-sagi]
• Rufous Turtle Dove Streptopelia orientalis [Kiji-bato]
• Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker Dendrocopos kizuki [Ko-gera]
• Japanese Wagtail Motacilla grandis [Seguro-sekirei]
• Indian Tree Pipit Anthus hodgsoni [Binzui]
• Pale Thrush Turdus pallidus [Shirohara]
• Dusky Thrush Turdus naumanni [Tsugumi]
• Bush Warbler Cettia diphone [Uguisu]
• Great Tit Parus major [Shijuu-kara]
• Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus [Enaga]
• Japanese White-eye Zosterops japonica [Mejiro]
• Rustic Bunting Emberiza rustica [Kashiradaka]
• Oriental Greenfinch Carduelis sinica [Kawarahiwa]
• Hawfinch Coccothraustes coccothraustes [Shime]
• Gray Starling Sturnus cineraceus [Mukudori]
• Azure-winged Magpie Cyanopica cyana [Onaga]