Ducks , ducks and more ducks.

Today, I went out with my Japanese friend to do some birdwatching. He is a bird expert and he can easily identify all the birds here in Japan. It was the second time for me to do this with him. We were joined this time by two more friends.

Birds + foggy river = magical moment.

We started our birdwatching at the Satsunai Garden Onsen. Near the entrance of the onsen is the Satsunai River where many ducks are just chilling out in the cold water. The sight of the birds with the foggy water just made it magical.

A mallard duck on a small island in the Satsunai River.

Close up of the mallard in the island.

Male mallard duck.

My friend introduced me to the bird species present in the river. Of course, I can already identify the mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos) because of the glossy green head of the male bird. However, I saw a mallard with a purple head. My friend said that this is because of the structural coloration. The different color was produced by microscopically structured surfaces fine enough to interfere with visible light.

The structural coloration seen in mallard duck’s purple head.

A male spot-billed duck.

Majority of the ducks are mallards. There are also few spot-billed ducks (Anas poecilorhyncha) characterized by the yellow spot on their bill.

A male Eurasian teal.

A male North American teal in the middle of Eurasian teals.

We also saw the Eurasian teal or common teal (Anas crecca).The blue-green color called teal was named after this bird. My friend also spotted one North American green winged teal (Anas carolinensis) among the group. He showed us the difference between the two species as the North American teal having the horizontal white scapular stripe and not the vertical white bar at the breast side present among the Eurasian teal. I was learning a lot about birds.

A male pintail.

There were about 2 or 3 pintails (Anas acuta). The male’s long central tail feathers was the reason behind its common and scientific names.

A male common merganser.

Then, a male common merganser (Mergus merganser) came flying into the river. It was larger than the rest of the ducks there and it seems that he came looking for someone. But he was the only merganser there, so it might not be a lucky day for him (lol).

A female mandarin duck.

Another loner among the crowd is the female mandarin duck (Aix galericulata). I would have been happier if the male mandarin was also there as it has a more colorful plumage.

A red fox was an added attraction to our birdwatching.

As we continued our birdwatching in another place, we saw a red fox (Vulpes vulpes) resting. We stopped and took a photo.

We passed by this hot air balloon flying against the snowy mountains.

To be continued…