A Trip to see Paradise

On Saturday morning, early, almost too early some would say, I went off to Okamoto. It is a small town about 20 minutes west of Osaka on the limited express Hankyu rail-line. I thought it was about an hour or so from Osaka, so the 5am start could have been put back to at least 7am, which would have meant a bit of sleep. However, it was a great morning, a good laugh and great exercise. The heat and humidity were killers and we duly sweated our entire body weights that morning. My t-shirt was a nice shade of light brown when I put it on that morning but by the time we finished the hike up the hill, it was dark with sweat. Rather pleasant don't you think. I was accompanied by Paul, Gavin (see left), Dave and Michaela for the morning jaunt. A good time was had by all I think. My objective was to see and photograph the pair of Paradise Flycatchers that had nested there. Also, as we walked up the hill, we were met by a family of wild boar on the path. Although fabulous creatures, I was expecting the more atypical image of wild boar, hairy, big tusks and mean in appearance. However, our pigs were just nothing like and the young boars were quite funny, squealing and making more noise than was necessary.

When we entered the shrine at one point on the hill, the target area, I met 2 birders/photographers. I asked them about the flycatcher and the Brown Hawk Owl but they said that they had both gone. I expressed my dismay and when I mentioned that my friend Kazu had told me that the young had flown the nest, the woman, Wako-san, just said "Ah, you are Mark-san!!", such is my fame here, and promptly showed me where a female Paradise Flycatcher was building a nest!! Right overhead of where I was standing!! The bird had been there while I was talking to them. I found that funny but good I guess. The flycatcher is a scarce breeder and the locals are very protective of their Paradise Flycatchers. I can understand why, such beautiful birds. Unfortunately, I did not see the male who has long tail-streamers, but the female was stunning, with a blue beak, a big blue eye-ring, and fabulous brown wings. She also started singing which was very beautiful indeed. A search for the owl turned up a blank but it didn't matter. With Varied Tits, Japanese White-eyes and Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers joining in on the show, it was a cool morning's birding. I may go back again to better explore the area, as it has really old mature Japanese woodland there. The woodland around shrines are in pristine condition as the trees are not touched for hundreds of years if not more, so the birds prefer them. Hence, a lot of birders visit shrines when birding.

While I was taking photos of the flycatcher and talking to the locals, the lads had gone off exploring, heading a couple of kilometres further up the hills. They said it was quite thick with vegetation and some of the trails had massive spider webs across them. They returned an hour or so later and I showed them the bird and then we headed off back down the hill and to civilization once again. Okamoto is a beautiful place, and I really liked the feel and atmosphere to the place. There were many beautiful houses and I think it is quite a wealthy suburb of Osaka, or rather a neighboring town of Osaka. It is so hard to work out which as Osaka seems to spread out for miles and miles. We sat in cafe having an iced coffee afterwards and it was cool to sit in a local cafe and watch the world go by. I would not mind living there. It was the first time I have felt part of anywhere since I arrived in Japan. It's not too far out of Osaka, and maybe 45 minutes or so to work. HHmmmmmmm.....

Being a long weekend, we went out for pints and food on Saturday night, as one of the girls from work is leaving after completing her three year tour. Sunday was spent resting in the morning, cleaning the apartment, reading about the Israeli over-the-top attacks on Lebanon and Bush's response of "try not kill so many civilians"(!!) (a post of which I will write during the week), going for lunch with the boys, watching Scrubs in the afternoon and then heading to a 280yen bar for some more food and beer. That was a good laugh and we got home late last night. We then wanted to go for another beer and stumbled into a hostess bar where it cost 4000yen to sit down and 1000yen for a beer so we legged it out of there. Funny really as we were all quite pissed. Now, I have spent the morning resting, snoozing, reading and writing this. I was going to go out to the Phoenix to see Oriental Pratincole (a lifer for me) but it has been pissing rain all morning, with thunder and lightening thrown in for good measure. It is just too nasty to go out in. Hopefully the birds will stay around until the weekend. Having had the pleasure of watching a Paradise Flycatcher build a nest on Saturday, I can't really complain can I...

So my friends and casual readers, I shall return to my book, and to Mr. John Kenny on The Mystery Train...

Carmo's Diet: This week, I have mostly been eating soba and seaweed

Carmo's Birds: Japanese Paradise Flycatcher and the supporting cast of Japanese Bush Warbler, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Japanese White-eye, Varied Tit...

Carmo's Birds for Byrdy: Uma Thurman