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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andrew Whitehouse" data-source="post: 1378776" data-attributes="member: 3550">Epilogue: 15th December, three hours birding in Narita, JapanIt's a long way back from New Zealand so I booked a flight that included a one night stop in Tokyo.  Hey, I needed a good rest.  And it also meant I could fit in a few hours birding.  You might wonder what can be seen around Tokyo airport in the middle of winter.  Not much perhaps.  Well, a bit of research led me to <a href="http://10000birds.com/three-short-reports-from-japan.htm" target="_blank">Charlie Moores' account</a> of various sites around Narita, the small town outside Tokyo where the international airport is situated.  I wouldn't have time to go to more than one of them so I opted for the 'streamside area'.  Handily enough, this was right next to the Narita Hilton Hotel where I was staying.The morning was crisp and cool with an atmospheric layer of mist lacing the ground.  Around the hotel car park I was soon picking up some new birds.  Never having been to east Asia before, much of what was around was new.  First up were the noisy Brown-eared Bulbuls - quite smart, long-tailed birds, which were common and conspicuous throughout the morning.  Around the hotel building were a few Large-billed (or Jungle) Crows. Up on the telegraph wires were a pair of Rufous Turtle Doves.Just outside the car park a quiet road leads through some dark mixed woodland, which was rather birdless, and out into an area of open fields, scrub and rough ground that surrounds a narrow channel.  It's possible to walk along the tracks along either side of the channel and birds soon become apparent.First up was a familiar ticking noise, which came from a Hawfinch perching briefly in a tree.  Kingfisher and Moorhen were both seen on the channel.  According to Moores' account the area is very good for buntings and so it proved.  First up was a really smart Meadow Bunting, of the contrasting Japanese subspecies.  There were also some skulking, yellowish Black-faced Buntings.  Then I began to encounter Rustic Buntings in some numbers - around 100 a more.  In the same areas there were some large flocks of Tree Sparrows.Bull-headed Shrikes were regularly encountered in the streamside scrub and trees.  The first one was rather furtive but then a pair did their 'shrike sitting prominently on top of a bush' routine to great acclaim.  These are very good birds, but then they're shrikes so you knew that already.  In the thick conifer forests there was a lot of noise, as if a bird was being mobbed.  Eventually I found what they were mobbing.  It was a really tiny raptor, perched near the top of a tree.  I was able to identify this as a Japanese Lesser Sparrowhawk, which was really pleasing.  A nice male too, with dense orange barring on the underparts.  It flew off after a minute or so, showing a shorter tail and faster and more active flight action than a Eurasian Sparrowhawk.  Probably the bird of the day and not one I really expected.After this it was more of the same along the river bank: Rufous Turtle Dove, Brown-eared Bulbul, the three buntings, Bull-headed Shrike.  I had some quick flight views of a few Brown Thrushes - brown above and orangey underneath.  A Kestrel flew over the grasslands.  I crossed over the stream and continued to the right, up a hill.  A small flock of the pale looking minor subspecies of Great Tits passed through the trees.  A short trail led off the road and back through the woodland that clothed the small ridge.  A sign saying 'Promo Nade' indicated where this begins.  The trail is only a couple of hundred metres long but goes through some good mixed woodland, with more mature deciduous trees than elsewhere.  This was really a good spot, something indicated when a very wonderful Varied Tit appeared in the treetops.  These are lovely chesnut coloured tits, with a distinctive black-and-white head pattern.  It was soon followed by a showy pair of Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers - very tiny things with barred upperparts.  A couple of Japanese White-eyes moved through the canopy.  I spent a bit more time searching but the new birds began to dry up a bit. There were a few species I hoped might appear that never did, particularly Dusky and Pale Thrushes.  I had brief flight views of a couple of wagtails that I wasn't able to identify positively.  But this was a good area, and rather pleasant for a walk too, despite its proximity to a huge airport.  <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=narita+hilton&sll=35.767129,140.51445&sspn=0.269657,0.617981&ie=UTF8&ll=35.789377,140.358109&spn=0.016013,0.038624&t=h&z=15" target="_blank">Google Maps</a> shows the area quite well.  If I'm ever transiting through Narita again, I might try and stay an extra night to pick up a few more species.1&2. a couple of habitat shots3. A rather hazy Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker4. Rustic Bunting5. Meadow BuntingI was having trouble with the camera that morning!</blockquote>

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