The two-week period of February 4-18 marks the beginning of spring, Risshun (立春) in the traditional Japanese calendar of 24 seasons. In southern Shiga Prefecture winter birds are still here, often hiding in bushes and trees as raptors patrol the skies. Sparrows are active in fields, and great cormorants return to local colonies. Pink and […]
Tag Archives: flowers
Selected Photos of 2018
Twenty of my favorite 2018 photographs of birds, insects, flowers, and landscapes In 2018 I learned the names of quite a few flowers and insects, and I began to look more carefully at larger scenes such as woodlands and riverbanks. In 2019 I want to learn more about the natural world and improve my vision […]
A Ride to Hatonomori Park
On December 13, 2018, I rode my mountain bike down along the left bank of Yasugawa to Moriyama. Along the way quite a few Japanese black kites (トビ) were flying and roosting on the ground and in trees near the carcass of a large fish. Below the weir I rode over the embankment that divides […]
Wildflowers and Insects
Here in Shiga Prefecture some wildflowers continue to bloom well into November. They attract a variety of flying insects, including butterflies, moths, bees, hoverflies, and wasps. On November 3, 2018, quite a few insects were feeding along an irrigation canal near rice and soybean fields near my home. Common grass yellow butterfly (Eurema hecabe hecabe, […]
End of Summer
The last days of summer 2018 in Shiga Prefecture have been mostly cloudy, with quite a bit of rain and very little sunshine. Whenever it was not raining too hard, I went out with a camera most days September 11-19, 2018. September 11 – insects in a garden, Yasugawa, nearby fields Physostegia virginiana flowers (obedience, […]
