Late January, from the 25th to the 29th, is the middle of the traditional Japanese cold season, Daikan (大寒), or Big Cold. This year, 2020, has been quite warm and often gloomy, with heavy clouds and light rain.
Category Archives: wildlife
Mid-January 2020
I was able to get outdoors only a few days in mid-January. Fortunately, I was able to take a few photos in the last days of the traditional season, 小寒 Shōkan (Lesser cold), and the first first week of 大寒 Daikan (Greater cold).
Morning Walk in Ritto
Before checking into Saiseikai Shigaken Hospital (済生会滋賀県病院) on January 13, 2020, I took a photowalk in and near my neighborhood and saw a Japanese pied wagtail (ハクセキレイ), some people flying kites, a farmer in a field, and a little egret (コサギ) in a canal.
Long-tailed tit (エナガ) with cocoon
On February 24, 2018, a long-tailed tit (エナガ) struggled to remove insect cocoon material from the left side of its head, neck, and wing. A sequence of photographs shows how the bird rubbed itself against a branch to escape from the material.
Winter Birds in Daikan (大寒)
The period from January 20th to February 3rd is Daikan (大寒), “Greater Cold” in English, in the Japanese traditional calendar of 24 seasons. In the cold weather I photographed quite a few species of birds within walking distance of my home. See more photos in my Flickr photostream or one of my albums.
