Winter Waterside Birds

A bit of a foot problem has cut down my walking range quite a bit, but I still managed to get out to the river yesterday afternoon to see the ducks flocking in. Mallards, Teal, Pintails, the gang’s all here. I also spotted a blue rock thrush for the first time this season, and my constant companion the kingfisher also made an appearance.

A blue rock thrush, its back blue mottled with gray and black, perches on a concrete embankment. It is looking over its shoulder toward the left side of the frame. — Blue rock thrush making sure I get its good side.

A kingfisher perches on a diagonal leaning reed, looking down. — Kingfisher on the prowl

A very felegant looking northern pintail duck swimming across a rippling river surface. It has a brilliant white breast, brown head, and a grayish body with delicate wavy patterns. Its tail is long and sticks up at an angle. — Northern Pintail, the most elegant of ducks.

A good morning’s hunt

Kingfisher, kitties, sparrows…

A kingfisher perched on a concrete embankment. It's body faces this way but it is pointing its beak to the right of the photo, looking down at the river below. — Eye spy

A small bird with a red belly, black head and a large white stripe across its face like a mask is perched in a leafy tree. — Varied tit

A sparrow is perched on a green bush that is trimmed flat. The sparrow is fluffed up from the chill. It is facing to the right of the photo, its body turned away. — Not a morning bird

Six stray cats of varying pattern, black to gray to tabby, are bunched together in a clearing in a patch of grass. They are all looking at the camera — Kitty pride

The sea’s a hoppin’

The fish (mullet?) are jumping in this stretch of the Seto Inland Sea, and the sea birds already seem satisfied.

A portrait oriented shot of a seagull on a slightly choppy sea. In the background, a large fish is jumping out of the water. — Behind you!

Beach Hubbub

My morning walk took me out by the beach (as usual) but this morning there was quite a commotion. I’m assuming some kind of small fish washed up en masse, because there were rival gangs of ravens and black tailed kites tussling over *something* out there. But, to be honest, they weren’t tussling that hard. So there must have been a lot of whatever it was.