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Japan Telescope Manufactures Association
Welcome to the bird-watching world
Japan Telescope Manufacturers Association
Some people die for typhoon and the other go to Alaska to see the drop of the eagle.
The people who are fascinated with the allure of birds become twitchy and disturbed when a big typhoon is approaching. Some rare birds of southern islands we seldom see in Japan might come to Japan on the wind (blown by the wind). A few days after the landing of a typhoon, there might be the people who are hung-up by an "encounter with rare birds" on the shore near the landing spot of the typhoon.
The other people go to Alaska only to see a bald eagle, the American national bird, leave its excrement in the sky. The excrement is about 20times as heavy as pigeons. The scene of dropping the rod-shaped white excrement appeals strongly.(photo : US1The bald eagle on 1$bill)
For beginners of bird watching.
In general, you go to the deep in hobby's world. But at first everyone is a beginner. When you have a chance to peep through binoculars, you are enslaved by the color of the halcyon's wing or you encounter a beautiful bird while traveling. Everyone has his own trigger. To say the affinity of the bird watching in a word, you can be a part of nature entering woods or mountains. Why don't you start bird watching in a couple or a family from tomorrow?
Try to wake up early.
Birds wake up in the morning and sleep at night except for special kinds. They get married, give birth to babies and raise them. They find food and eat. The method for communication is the word of “cry” . For the first step, you should wake up early. Try to open the window after getting up. “It's morning. I live vigorously today too!” No one knows if birds might say so, but you can hear the bird cries. They might be sparrows or crows, but kinds do not make any difference. Listen to the sound for a moment silently. You can start a new morning you have never experienced.
Go to a park.
When you keep listening to the bird cries, you can notice the different cries of the same bird. He sometimes calls fellow birds or enjoying a morning chat. If you feel you can understand birdﾕs words somewhat, you are a full-fledged bird watcher.
For the next step, when you wake up early, walk to the nearest park. You will notice different birds then from your home. If you live near a river, a lake or a sea, you are luckier. You can meet a lot of birds.
(photo : Yatsuhigata Nature Observation Center)
Go to the place where there is a guide. Join a bird-watching party.
When you begin to have fun walking to the nearby park, river and sea to “watch birds”, why don't you go to a wild bird watching spot? If possible, a guide would be preferable. There might be rental binoculars at such spot. You will never forget the impression and surprise of close up birds through binoculars or monocles for the first time. Please ask the person in charge permission to go along with the birds and what to wear.
Next, join a bird-watching party hosted by the Wild Bird Society of Japan or bird watching spots. There is a leader in a bird-watching party, and he kindly teaches the procedure of bird-watching or how to use binoculars, even to the beginners. You can take much merit in getting acquainted with a expert of bird-watching and getting much advice. (Everyone is a beginner at first. Please say that you are a beginner to the leader and the members.)
Halcyon moves you.
A housewife said in her blog;
While she was walking along a river, she saw a person watching something with binoculars. "What are you doing?"she asked, he said," I'm watching a bird." She took a peep with them and saw a halcyon. The brilliant cobalt blue intrigued her. After that she went around with her husband with rice balls on holidays. While watching birds, we cannot talk loudly. My husband is not so talkative that I feel relieved. I'd like us to talk with each other at home though. (laugh).
Measure birds
About 555kinds wild birds are observed in Japan and about 9,000 in the world. How can we distinguish such many birds? First is the size. You can guess sparrows, pigeons and crows by the size, can't you? So the three birds confirm the size comparing, when they come across a strange bird.
Next, they zero in on referring the shape of the body and beak, discriminative color and marking. Sparrow (15cm in length), pigeon(turtledove 33cm in length), crow(jungle crow 56.5cm in length)are called measure birds. The medium sized starling (24cm in length), bulbul(27.5cm in length) would be added to the three kinds in some cases. Remembering this would be helpful.