First Encounter With a Large Group of Birders.

Trip #: 22
Date: Sun Mar 10, 2019
Place: Maruyama Park, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Time: 9:00
Weather: Sunny, cold.
Equipment:
1. Nikon D90 w/ multibattery pack
2. Bower 500mm Mirror lens F6.3
3. Nikon "Monarch" 10x42 6°
Birds & number sighted*():
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)*(4)(i.e. 2 male/female pairs)
Large-billed Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)*(5)
Japanese Tit (Parus minor)*(1)
Brown-eared Bulbul (Hypsipetes amaurotis)*(1)
Oriental Greenfinch (Chloris sinica)*(1)
eBird checklist w/map:
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53740052

Here now in Hokkaido,
the snow blizzards have stopped
a little early, but still 2-3 feet of snow
on the ground in places. The trails were
packed down to a narrow path to be able to walk the park.
One point I stepped off the path,
and sunk above my knee into the snow,
and fell over with my camera and binoculars
instinctively took the route of "their safety first".
Nothing like a good first impression, haha.
It was wonderful to be among so many different
varieties of age groups spotting.
Met a few from other countries,
and I had a chance to speak English as well.
Made a few good friends to bird with,
which was a wonderful surprise.
I went out thinking may 2-3 people,
or only I would show up this day,
since it was very cold,
and still alot of snow on the ground.
So I was quite surprised to see
very close to 100 people show up!
I only sighted personal a few birds this day, but
I enjoyed it very much.
The group as a whole spotted 21 different species.

Jeff