Ｗeeping cherry (Prunus spachiana); shidare cherry,シダレザクラ

It is no exaggeration to say that across the whole extent of Japan will be covered by cherry blossoms soon. "Shidarezakura" blooms before the flowering of the main "Somei-yoshino ". However, in recent years, the lifespan of 『Somei-yoshino』is said to be short, and "Somei-Yoshino", which is also said to be diseased and weak pests, is being updated with other varieties.

 This durian redstart seems to returned to the breeding ground before this  cherry flower blooming.

 Canola blossoms are reflected on the road surface of asphalt.Shoot with a 500 mm SLR digital camera. Such a scene was not seen before in the Tone River Middle Region of Chiba Prefecture where I live in, but it came to be seen in the past few years.

 Shoot with a compact digital camera

Japanese Andromeda,Asebi,アセビ

Pieris japonica, the Japanese andromeda or Japanese pieris, is a plant in the heather family, Ericaceae. It is native to eastern China, Taiwan, and Japan where it grows in mountain thickets.

It is also widely cultivated in gardens, and parent to the cultivated hybrid Pieris 'Forest Flame'.

Pieris japonica is a shrub or a small tree (1–4 metres or 3.3–13.1 feet tall, occasionally up to 10 metres) with alternate, simple leaves on brittle stems. The flowers are white and borne in early spring. The plant is poisonous if consumed by people or animals. The name "andromeda" originated from an earlier genus name for the plant. The flower blooms and lasts usually for two or three weeks.(quote from Wikipedia) 

Banded birds,足環の鳥たち

As I described with this blog before, there are two facilities concerning birds in Abiko city where I live in. One is Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, and the other Abiko city of Museum Birds.

I have been taking pictures for wild birds for a long time and sometimes I have seen banded birds with small rings, so I took their birds several times. I will upload them this time.

                                      (Kingfisher)

                                     (Common reed Bunting)

                                     (Bull-headed Shrike)

                                     (Oriental Reed Warbler)

                                     (Northern Pintail)

 (Japanese white- eye with octuple Japanese apricot)

Tōkai-ji,東海寺and Magnolia kobus，コブシ

It is said that the Tokaiji Temple located near my house had many worshipers during the Edo period（1603-1868）, but today the number of worshipers is small and quiet. Today, many people visit during the cherry blossom viewing season at Sakurayama on the south side of this temple, and increased number of people visiting temple also . In addition, this temple is registered as one of the Chiba prefecture's Tangible cultural properties. Besides and there are the splendid Four Heavenly Kings posing at the tower gate.

There are Magnolia kobus or Kobushi magnolia and cherry blossoms in this temple, but the flowers of Magnolia kobus are scattered and cherry blossoms begin to bloom.

The Japan Meteorological Agency announced that the cherry blossoms of this year are about five days earlier than usual.

Tōkai-ji (東海寺^?), formally called Kōryūzan Fuse Benten Tōkai-ji (紅龍山布施弁天東海寺^?), is a Buddhist temple located in the city of Kashiwa in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, and in the year 807, Emperor Saga requested Kūkai to found this temple. 

Four Heavenly Kings,四天王、

The Four Heavenly Kings are four Buddhist gods, each of whom watches over one cardinal direction of the world. In Chinese, they are known collectively as the "Fēng Tiáo Yǔ Shùn" (simplified Chinese: 风调雨顺; traditional Chinese: 風調雨順; literally: "Good climate") or "Sì Dà Tiānwáng" (Chinese: 四大天王; literally: "Four Great Heavenly Kings"). The Hall of the Heavenly Kings is a standard component of Chinese Buddhist temples.  (Quote from Wikipedia)

　　　　　　　　　　（Tower gate）

                                 (Magnolia kobus)

 

 (Four Heavenly Kings )

Extremely close range photograph of the kingfisher,カワセミの至近距離写真

I took these images with collimating type equipment, which is called "Digisco" or

"Digiscoping" in Japan three days ago.

These images are in the raw, and when exchanging the focus distance as the image that these images were taken with a 35mm film camera, it is equivalent to approximately 2, 500mm .

As for this system, refer to the following:

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/デジスコ

www.digisco.com/

www.kowa-prominar.ne.jp/digisco/
www.nikonvision.co.jp/how_to/digisco/

Left side of this page, Collimated Photographing System                 

(Images are male only)