this one

This is the 2nd time seeing this pigeon on our lanai.

The 1st time was after it had rained and when I went out to check on my plants, I surprised it.

I had thought it had slept on the lanai to wait out the rain...

But, then I saw it this 2nd time...

not sure why it was out there on some of my planters...

hopefully eating bugs and not doing anything else...

crow watching

Yesterday was raining all day long…crows scare the beejezus out of me and whenever it rains guess who takes shelter on our lanai…

I was so bored and shot a short video of the crow who called his girlfriend so they could get out of the rain…

if you are viewing this at work, turn down your sound...

daily stuff

Back in 2018, I told you about our neighbors, the sparrows.

Well, recently, they have been getting harassed by the crows.

Almost every day when the sparrows want to enter their home (white arrow).

The crows tend to be sitting on top (red arrow) or somewhere nearby.

I usually hear the sparrow frantically chirping and take a peek outside.

Sure enough, the crow is sitting nonchalantly on top of the sparrow's home (or nearby) taunting the sparrows.

So, I open the curtains or the screen door to scare off the crows...

which stops the sparrows from "screaming"...hopefully the crows do not retaliate and start pooping on our lanai...

onaga

If you click on the photo, you might be able to see the bird with a rather long blue tail. (sorry my picture is blurry)

Apparently it is called "onaga" in Japanese... (Azure winged magpie in English)...by the way, onaga in hawaiian is the word for the long tail red snapper fish

It is the first time for me to see one of these and I was surprised at how long it was hanging out on this tree while looking for bugs to eat (I went to the coin laundry and the onaga was still on the tree as I walked back home!)

new neighbors

It's been a couple of weeks since this family of sparrows moved into the metal thingy on the electric pole in front of our lanai...

Although they can be a bit noisy, they are better to check out than the scary crows that sometimes sit on the electrical lines.

Crows really scare me...

Hope your week is going well.

ooh ooh

Recently I've seen this cormorant in our river.

In Japanese it is called an u (pronounced "ooh").

If you're interested, check out my video here.

The first second or so you will see a huge white koi (carp). Then the cormorant will look like a black duck only it will stay underwater for quite some time.

It isn't the best quality, I shot it with my iPhone and there was no way to zoom-in (well if there is I don't know how to).

Enjoy!

shirasagi & 'auku'u

Remember the aosagi? (grey heron)

Well, after I posted that, my Aunty M wrote to say that she sees a similar bird on her walks in Hawaii.

She sent me a photo of it and here it is...in Hawaiian it is called 'auku'u, in English, black crowned night heron.

The other day on one of my walks from the market, I got a chance to get a photo of the shirasagi (white heron but more commonly called egret).

Next, I have to get a photo of ducks flying, so that Satoshi will believe me that they do...Happy Wednesday!

aosagi

Our area, though considered part of a big city, is actually quite rural.

We have lots of interesting birds here and there, especially near the rivers.

Many ducks (which Satoshi doesn't believe can fly) and many birds that I have never seen in Hawaii.

One interesting bird is this heron, grey heron to be exact. In Japanese, it is called an aosagi. I thought it would mean blue heron because "aoi" is blue or green in Japanese, but the English name is grey heron.

I think it was pretty cool how it stayed so still while I tried to take its photo from atop a bridge, and then from alongside the river.

Do you have interesting birds/animals where you live?

wanted!

I am not sure if I ever told you, but I wish I had a camera built into my eye.

If I had one in my eye, I could've shown you the guy on the train digging his nose and then eating what he dug...okay, maybe you wouldn't want to see that, but there are some pretty outrageous things that I witness on public transportation.

Like the women who insist on putting their faces on while riding the train. Can you believe that some use 4 different mascaras? (When they do it while you are facing them, you tend to take notice.)

I could've shown you the guy smoking then throwing his cigarette into the stream and the other who threw his into the sewage drain.

Or the people who drink canned drinks on the train and leave them under their seat for others to clean up after them.

I could've shown you the 980 yen (about US$9.80) price tag for 1 nub of wasabi (Japanese horseradish) at the market.

I could've shown you this bird taking the very tiny, but very ripe strawberry from my planter. This bird was quick and smart.

It sat on the edge of the planter, looked at me looking at it and took the strawberry.

It went up to the roof of the house across from our lanai to eat it. While I ran to get my camera, he came back to check out the planter again.

Then went onto the roof once more to wait until I left the window, I took its photo while it was waiting on the roof...I have a feeling it was a bulbul, but I can't be too certain.

The tulips on my lanai have started to bloom, so fast and so pretty!