Manhole Birds

Toyono Town in Kumamoto Prefecture uses an image of the ugusui, Japanese Bush-warbler.

Up in Matsue, Shimane soem of the smaller draincovers around the castle moat feature the swan, hakucho in Japanese.

Saijo City in Ehime on Shikoku features a pair of kingfishers, kawasemi in Japanese.

Susaki in Kochi Prefecture on Shikoku also featurtes a kingfisher.

Noichi, also in Kochi, no longer officially exists as it has been merged into a new municipality of Kamita. Among the daffodils flies a Hibari, skylark

Tombi, Black-eared Kite

The Black-eared Kite, Milvus Lineatus, is the most common raptor in Japan. In parts of japan it is called Tobi, but in my area it is called Tombi.

They are quite common, especially along the coast and rivers. A few months ago I saw a flock of about 40 circling over my village. Apparently in winter they tend to roost together in larger groups.

They are very opportunistic feeders, sometimes catching small animals but mostly feeding on carrion. They ahve been known to snatch food out of your hands. I was walking along near Hamada port one day eating a sandwich and they kept swooping to within inches of me.

disturbed at breakfast

Walking down Route 55 along the SE coast of Shikoku early one morning I disturbed a troop of monkeys in the trees along the roadside.

I guess there was about 30 in total. I stood still for a minute and gradually they reappeared and carried on with their breakfast.

Creatures met along the way

Here are some of the creatures I encountered on my walk last week down the SE coast of Shikoku.

There arent a lot of goats in Japan, but you do occasionally see them staked out eating the weeds. I hope to get some goats in the future.

This little bird could not have been dead long as it had not been taken by any carrion eater or invaded by ants....

This frog however must have been dead for some time as it was completely mummified...

Kites, tombi in Japanese, are common everywhere....

Tombo, dragonflies, are also quite common... this one was quite a small species...

Maybe because of the impending cooler weather, butterflies seem to be a lot more active right now...

They're back!!!

They're back!!!

We hadn't seen hide nor hair of the monkeys for about three months, then last week I was sitting at my computer and heard a noise on the roof above me.

Our persimmon trees have started to become laden with persimmons.... still a ways from being ripe, but the monkeys quite like them that way.

When I went out the front door to sneak around the side of the house to try and get some good shots I heard a bang above me and a half-eaten pumpkin rolled off the roof and landed in front of me.

The thief climbed up the power pole and ran along the electric line, jumped on to my chicken shack and bounded off into the forest....

Tsubame Japanese Swallows

The local railways station, (5 trains a day in each direction) is a small wooden structure that is home to a colony of swallows.

From late spring its enjoyable to stand and wait for a train while watching the swallows acrobatically swooping around catching bugs to feed to their young safely ensconced in the numerous nests in the waiting room and under the platform roof.

They may be barn Swallows, Im not sure, but I believe they are not migratory.

I quite like the impresionistic effect that is created by photographing them at a slower shutter speed.

Japanese Skink

Skinks are skittish creatures as well as being fast movers, but this guy got trapped inside a plastic bucket so I was able to photograph him/her.

The latin name is Plestiodon latiscutatus and apparently that is a fairly recent reclassification of the genus. In Japanese its called Nihon Tokage.

Juveniles and females have the distinctive metallic-blue tails...

Miyoshi

This is the draincover for Miyoshi, a town in the mountains of Hiroshima, and upstream from us on the Gonokawa river. It depicts cormorants as ukai, the traditional method of river fishing using trained cormorants is still practised here in the summer.

I don't have any photos of the ukai, but I hope to see it later this year. I do have a few photos of wild cormorants though, this one was along the moat of Okayama castle.

In front of a house a few meters away from where I took the draincover photo I did find this rice-straw model of what I believe is a cormorant sitting on top of a turtle.

Miyoshi is not particularly famous, but like a lot of places off the beaten track it is possible to spend a day or two there and find enough to see. Miyoshi dolls are still produced here, made of clay, and there is a nice free museum with a big display and its alos possible to visit workshops where they are made.

Miyoshi also has a connection with the Chushingura, the story of the 47 Ronin. The wife of the Lord who was avenged by the ronin came from Miyoshi and after they committed ritual suicide she spent the rest of her life caring for the families of the 47. At her burial place in Miyoshi are statues of her and the 47 ronin as well as a cherry tree reputedly planted by the leader of the 47.

Previous posts on Miyoshi, mostly about the shrines, can be found here

Big ol' spider

There are a lot of these spiders around the end of summer and into autumn. I cant be sure but I think its is a female Nephila clavata, a kind of Golden silk orb weaver.

The female will sometimes eat the male after copulating, so this may well be a Jorogumo, a mythical shape-shifting creature in Japanese folklore that takes on the appearance of a beautiful woman to attract men who are then tied up an eaten.

Giant Japanese Toad

I nearly trod on this when I went out to check some seedlings a few weeks ago.
It made no attempt to flee so I went inside to get my camera....

It was huge, half a kilo I would guess. I am almost certain it is a female Western Japanese Common Toad, Nihon Hiki Gaeru, Bufo Japonicus Japonicus.

Yoko reckoned it was an Ushi Gaeru, a Cow Frog, but that is the name of the American Bullfrog that was introduced into Japan in the early Twentieth Century as a source of protein.

A photo of one of those can be seen here

Japanese Camels

Well of course there is no such thing as a Japanese Camel, and as far as I can find out there never has been.

These first two photos are of the Bactrician Camel, now native to Mongolia and part of China, though their prehistoric origin was probably North America.

These live in neighboring Tottori at the prefecture's most well-known tourist site, the Tottori Sand Dunes, where they give tourists short rides in the sand. Before I came to Japan, knowing how much I loved the desert my wife tried to convince me that Japan did in fact have a small desert. Tottori sand dunes is what she meant!

There was also a Dromedary or Arabian Camel. When i was a kid we used to ride camels at the zoo, and one time some years ago I did get up before dawn and ride a camel out into the Sahara to watch sunrise from the top of dunes similar to the ones here in Tottori.

Monkey Watch

I heard the calls of the monkeys in the forest outside my house so I watched out the window for a minute or two until I saw an adult jump down from the fence and head past my house.

I snuck outside with my camera and caught this guy gleaning my compost pile.

Probably a male.

Sitting on the fence watching was another adult, female I think.

It was not the whole troop, which numbers 20-30, but a family. There were 2 adults, 2 juveniles, and 2 babies.

The mom stood guard while the kids scavenged around.

Ive been fortunate to have lived places where encountering wild animals is the norm.

I spent a good 30 minutes watching the family. One of these days Im going to set up a hide with my camera on a tripod and take some better shots.....