Kenroku-en, Kanazawa

After visiting the National Crafts Museum, we also stopped off at Kanazawa’s Kenroku-en garden.

I’m kind of a bird person, so I was more on the lookout for some new birds. Although luck wasn’t really on my side, I did spot a couple flitting about!

The first was what I think is a varied tit - It seems the last time I saw it at the Shinjuku Gyoen I only got a photo of its butt, so it’s harder than expected to get a good photo of it.

The other was the Japanese tit which is a fairly common guy.

At one point we saw a pair with a flash of yellow on their wings - a completely new sighting for me, perhaps. Alas they flew off before I could get a picture. I did try and search for them but only ended up in a sweaty mess as it was a really, really hot day.

Our interest was piqued when we came to a pond. Quite a few grandpas had out their binoculars and their telephoto cameras. Was there a cool bird to be seen?

They seemed to be specifically staring at a hollow in a tree.

Maybe there was a nest and they were waiting for the parent to return?

For the fun of it, I decided to take a picture of the guy’s camera display (tactically, without him realising so I don’t look like a weirdo). I thought it would make for an interesting photo, or at least a “proof of what they are staring at” kind of photo.

Finally we spotted a large-billed crow enjoying itself in the water, and then we retreated back to the air-conditioned comfort of my car.

It was only when I got home, and decided to zoom in on the photo I had taken of the guy’s camera display to see if anything was there, when I saw it.

Remember that photo I had taken of the tree’s hollow? When I zoomed in on that, the little guy was visible there too.

I guess it must be an owl of some kind. I figure this doesn’t count towards me seeing the bird since I didn’t actually see it on the day myself (not that birding really has any rules as far as I know, but these are my own rules). So I wont be adding it as a sighting on my birding page. I’ll have to figure out how to spot one of these guys another time.