Monday, the sun came out, even if it was for a little bit, the air very crisp.I walked over to Suigetsu Park. Most of the ume/momo (apricot/peach) trees are in full bloom and one of the many sakura (cherry) trees has started to bloom.
As I was taking some photos, I noticed a group of mejiro (which literally means white eye) attacking the flowers, I'm not sure why they do this, but I've also seen other birds do this to the sakura (cherry) trees, I wonder if there are bugs or something in the flower that they like?
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We also have mejiro in Hawaii which surprised Satoshi. I think they were introduced to Hawaii to take care of insects.Anyway, these photos were the best out of what I took, these birds move quite quickly, plus I didn't want to get too close to scare them away.
I leave you with a short video of the mejiro, sorry I couldn't zoom in on them, I was taking this with my iPhone (which doesn't zoom) and like I said before, I didn't want to get too close to scare them. It was overcast, so the video is a bit dark. Also, there is the rustling of my plastic bag in the background.
15 comments:
ooooh mejiro...... I haven't had those birds on my mind in years!!! Kinda makes me homesick.....
I love mejiros! I think they are so pretty! I also wondered why they were attacking the blossoms on a tree outside our apartment window, so I looked up their diet, and bugs are indeed a part of it, but they are going after the nectar too. Wish we had them in Michigan. Guess I have to enjoy them as much as possible for the next couple months (or hope for a Hawaiian vacation!).
That's a good photo. Little birds are sooooo difficult to capture. We have these in Australia too. We call them silver eyes.
Some books say they are omnivorous and say they sip nectar of flowers too, not only eat insects. They come to camellia too to sip nectar.
Nice shot of the mejiro between the flowers!
Very cool to be able to step out a bit to video these cuties and to see the trees (still snowing here!). I wonder what those blue baskets are for?
sorry to make you homesick Kirk!
thanks for telling me about the nectar, Linny!
I guess their eyes do have a sort of silvery circle around it Momiji :)
Thanks Jalna :)
Rowena, The blue baskets hold weeds and dirt. I was standing near the garden's storage :)
Take care everyone.
Kat
oops forgot to reply to you Anon, thank you for the info :)
Take care.
Kat
Great pictures. I have not seen the mejiro here before, they are very interesting. ;-)
I hope you get a chance to see them Debinhawaii, the ones I've seen in Hawaii aren't in big groups like these were, maybe one or two at a time.
Take care.
Kat
Those little birds are so interesting! And of course the trees in bloom - on of my favorite things. I can see why they'd like to hang out there. :)
Oh I do wish I could visit japan! It looks lovely! Here in England our trees and bushes are still leafless, even the daffodil haven't flowered yet! The first iris' (planted by my five year old son) have just flowered. We've had such a bitter winter this year. I've loved the snow but going into spring and I'm still wrapped in gloves and hot water bottles! There is a georgous tree opposite my mothers home that is beautiful when in blossom, I'll take a pic when it finally comes to life :) (also, for some reason when I clicked the link to your comments it said mine had been sent to approval and well I hadn't written it yet, I hope they haven't become muddled between blogs! Lol)
They are interesting Biologie :) I think I'll go back to see them again!
Hope it warms up for your soon Katherine :)
Take care you two.
Kat
I love spring for the blossoms. This morning I was looking at a holiday lodge on the Sunshine Coast and I've decided to plan a holiday there in spring as they have a garden of jacaranda trees.
That sounds like a beautiful getaway, Barbara :)
Take care.
Kat
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