Japanese Waxwing,ヒレンジャク

This is first installment of a two-part series of this topic.

It inhabits in North-east Asia and can be seen as a winter bird in Japan.

Wintering ranges are Japan, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, southern China, Taiwan, etc., but the number of arrivals is extremely irregular depending on the year. In Japan, it stays in the area north of central Okinawa from November to May. In contrast to Bohemian Waxwing, which is common in eastern Japan, Japanese Waxwing is more common in western Japan and is rarely seen in Hokkaido.( reference source Wikipedia) 

It drinks rainwater pooled in the tree crotch.

Ａ Japanese waxwings feeding on berries of Liriope muscan.       

Ａ Japanese waxwings feeding on berries of Ophiopogon japonicas

Rosefinch,オオマシコ

The Pallas's rosefinch (Carpodacus roseus) is a species of bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is found in China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mongolia, and Russia. Birds are occasionally reported from further west and there are records from several European regions, including Britain, but the cage-bird trade makes the origin of some such birds hard to assess. Its natural habitats are boreal forests and boreal shrubland.( Cited from Wikipedia)

                                     a female

                                   a male

Short-eared owl flying over field mustard flower、菜の花の上を飛ぶコミミズク

Ｏn the way return north home

As I thought that I intended to go to a nearby embankment to begun practice shooting birds with new gears, I went there the other day.

As soon as I arrived, I encountered a short-eared owl flying over around the embankment.

The short-eared owl left shortly after, but in the embankment partly was in full bloom with flowers of the foreign plant such as kind of mustard plants.

A short-eared owl flying over the field mustard plant flowers was the first shot for me.

Yesterday, I went out to the same place to photograph again, but the owl did not show up again despite the good evening without the wind.

 The prey must be a mole.

Start off with new gear,新しい機材でスタート

The change of the shooting equipment has already been described in this blog.

I acquired the shooting gear ordered from a camera mass retailer on January 19 on February 24.

There is a good reason that why I was waited so long (well-intentioned advice of the mass retailer ) to get them, aside from that, I previewed it the other day.

The weigh of the new equipment was 3 kg excluding the tripod, and I easily was able to take handheld shots.I will install the images.  

There is a program being possible to track, called tracking system , the subject from the selected AF area when the shutter button of α9 is half-pressed.

This is useful for moving subjects.

And, it is also possible to use the type of APS-C size .

α9 with FE200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G ＯＳＳ

 The distance between subject and camera is estimated about 80 m.

                                      Trimmed

 The distance between subject and camera is estimated about 50 m.

                                      APS-C size ,above

Honorable Mention at Yomiuri Photo Awards

Yomiurishinbun has reported on February 2, on Honorable Mention at Yomiuri Photo Awards.

Annual screening of the 41st Yomiuri Photo Awards (sponsored by Yomiuri Shimbun, cooperated with Canon Marketing Japan)

My photo posted in the News Photo category won Honorable Mention.

Remarks;

The Yomiuri Shimbun is one of the Japanese newspapers and the representative national newspaper with the biggest-circulation newspaper in the world.

 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　The works before trimming

 　　　　　　　　　　　　　The Plaque  

　　The large bag for camera gears