Wadertasia

The last couple of weekends has seen a considerable increase in the number of waders passing through Osaka as the "Wader Season" begins to take hold. It's an exciting time for us poor miserable souls suffering the summer heat and humidity. It brings to an end, several weeks of inactivity and dullness. The last couple of weekends have certainly not disappointed.

The weekend before last, I decided to pop down to Nanko on Saturday morning to lead my little group of wannabe birders to the airconditioned (sort of - the windows open to the sea breeze) pleasure of summertime oppression...Nanko Bird Sanctuary in Osaka. Normally the birds are scattered and can be difficult to see but today they were bunched in with the high tide and the species list was impressive: Common Greenshank (see above), Common Redshank, LRP, KP, GT Tattler, Red-necked stint, Long-toed Stint, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Terek Sandpiper and the usual assortment of egrets and herons. I was very impressed with the number of species but the bird of the day, for me at least as I found it, was a single Broad-billed Sandpiper. Nice. Later that evening, I headed up to Ebie to try and connect with the Great Knot that were seen during the week. Alas, I did not but a party of 6 Common Greenshank were nice.

The following morning I headed out to Ogura with K...K referred to it as Hell during the week. The weather does not make for comfortable birding. The main target of the Ogura trip was Oriental Pratincole. I have searched the previous 2 August months but to no avail. After 4 hours trekking across the polder region of the rice-fields and lotus fields of Ogura, we finally stumbled upon 4 fantastic Oriental Prats (see above)...magic, at last. A lifer for me and one I had been sweating over for a long time (quite literally). The last of my 2 litres of water were drunk in celebration and we decided that with the Prats in the bag, it was time to head to the heaven of air-conditioned SunKus. The supporting cast for that day's birding was also impressive: Pacific Golden Plover (3), Grey-headed lapwing (100), LRP (12), Latham's Snipe (5), Painted Snipe (2), Wood Sandpiper (6), and a Ruddy Crake (a big surprise).

The weekend just past say my return to Nanko after a disappointing sojourn back to Ogura. I received an email from K telling me of the birds present in Nanko that morning and I was stunned. Much the same as the previous weekends but an additional 3-4 species...one of which was a lifer!!! I raced out the door and got to Nanko an hour later. I walked in and calmly hurried to the observation window...boom....there it was, straight out...Far Eastern Curlew (see below for record shot)!!!!! Finally, after all this time and the slagging from ND, I connected with this crazy looking wader. The bill on this bird is so long, it looks strange. I guess it's because I'm used to seeing Eurasian Curlews and Whimbrel. The supporting cast was impressive too: Long-billed Dowitcher (1), Marsh Sandpiper (4), LRP, KP, GTT, Red-necked stint (massive increase 500), Wood Sandpiper (1), Common Greenshank (2), Common Redshank (1), Common Sandpiper (1), Terek Sandpiper (10), Broad-billed Sandpiper (at least 40, incredible, see above), and GTT. A fabulous hour's birding...

Sunday of course was spent at the IAAF Championships...incredible. over 300 photos taken and mindblowing. more on that later.



Carmo's Diet: This week, I have mostly been eating fruit juice

Carmo's Birds: see above...325 for Japan now

Carmo's birds for Byrdy: the English hepathlete Ennis...