Finally, 2 days in a row without rain! How best to celebrate? get in a fight with the Mrs over something as trivial as not wanting to look around an insectarium on the Saturday. It rather spoilt an otherwise perfect day and a nice little visit to one of Hiroshima's multifarious forest parks. Still all is harmonic bliss now.
We managed to see The Da Vinci Code on Monday, and it is 'thankfully' better than the book, though still smacks of a Hollywood cliquiness. Tom Hanks and Ron Howard having their own Hollywood eqyuivalent of a special relationship..he stars in his films, just as Blair does in Bushes little epics, and the movie is all the poorer for it, as the world is with Bush and Blair in it. There is also a penchant for treating the audience like idiots. We don't need to have everything explained with 'artsy' flashbacks , or certain historical facts or suppositions explained with 'reconstrucution' scenes do we? Sorry, jumping the gun there, assuming that 1) anyone is readin this and 2) that any of you have read the book or seen the film. Please see it for yourself and make up your own mind.,,still I think that Jesus and Mary, though they may have got it on, never produced any little sprogs who would be kings of France. I mean why would a woman from the totaly opposite end of the Roman Empire choose France to land in and call home, above all other places. True the food is good, and they do have a way with 'l'amour', but what else did they have to offer at that time?
Anyway, going back to the weekend. While the Mrs spent the day out with her mum, soaking in yet another hot spring, I managed to drag me bum out of bed at 4.30am, and go with my most excellent birding pals Miyazawa-san and Funakawa-san for a spot of spring birding, around Garyuzan-san in the Chugoku mountains. We arrived around 6.30 and heard the tail end of the 'dawn' chorus, with plenty of Winter Wrens, Grey Thrush, Narcissus Flycatcher, Blue and White Flycatcher and Siberian Blue Robins singing their collective hearts out, all with glorious sunshine, a rare thing in recent weeks, and as yet not too hot tempratures.
We tootled slowly up the narrow little mountain road, passing lush green broadleaved beech forest, concealing most of the singing birds, with the occasional movement revealing a wren, thrush and once briefly a Ruddy Kingfisher.
Once we had reached the top of the mountain, where the cool spring water bubbles up from inside the mountain, while frogs croak all around, we began to slowly walk back down. As we walked we heard Siberian Thrush, Japanese Woodpigeon, Oriental Cuckoo and Litle Cuckoo, catching glimpses of the commoner woodland birds, such as Coal Tit, Varied Tit, Great Tit and Nuthatch going about their woodland business of eating caterpillars and what have you. Occasionally one of the 4 species of woodpecker would call or drum, and we caught the odd glimpse of them, as well as an overflying Little Cuckoo, as well as the Blue Robin and the flycatchers, with Wrens singing sometimes just a few meters ahead of us.
Finally we stopped at an area, where Ruddy Kingfisher had bred in the past, and waited patiently fo them to start givng their beautiful descending trill, and perhaps treat us to a passing flash of orange and blue. Unfortunately, despite sometimes being only a few meters away, the most we ever saw was an orange blur as they flew between perches, the large leaves obscuring them, while their calls tantalisingly led us on a merry chase without success.
As the morning progressed, and we whiled away the time chatting about what was about and taking the odd photo we were lucky enough to watch an adult White-backed Woodpecker feeding one of its young, and later on a male Japanese Green Woodpecker busily excavating a hole, to try and entice a mate.
After a nice lazy picnic lunch, we went down to the flat area of rice-fields and scrub at the foot of the mountain, but the day had warmed up so much, that apart from some scrumptious local ice-cream, the only thing of note, was the first cuckoo of the spring 'kakkoing' away in the distance.
On the way back to Hiroshima, we decided to stop for Dollarbirds, and were rewarded with nice views of both birds, as they flew around nearby trre-tops, trying to blend in unsuccessfully with their gaudy blue-green plumage and carrot bills. While standing there we were also treated to nice views of a pair of Crested Kingfisher chasing each other in the late afternoon light and surprise bird of the day a Grewen Sandpiper, flying around a wet rice paddy looking totally out of place so high up in the mountains.
On the way back my attempts to remain awake, proved frutiless, as I could not beat the 1 hour of sleep and the relentless sun. My profuse apologies were greeted by the usual don't worries from the lovely ladies.
Twas a great way to spend the day and escape the hustle and bustle of Hiroshima's Sunday shoppers.
Hirobirders best birds: Siberian Blue Robin, Dollarbird, Crested Kingfisher, Ruddy Kingfisher.
Weekend eats and drinks: 7-11 Bento and the wonderfully whisked-up Green Tea of Funakawa-san
