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This is Page 2 of 2 - the best of February 2008!
posted: February 29th, 2008
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The photos on this page start with February 11th and a trip to Nagaike Park for bird photographs. On February 16th we went to Koishikawa Botanical Garden for Plum Blossom photos. Finally, we went to Nogawa and Musashino Parks. Click on any thumbnail to begin.

Begin February 11th
  On February 11th we went out to Nagaike Park to search for birds. We did pretty good. Here are 3 shots of a female Red-flanked Bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus). This is the same bird you just saw on the previous page, but that one was a male. Note the 2nd shot where she seems to be saying "what are YOU looking at human?"
Feb11_NagaikePk_Bird06RC.jpg
Feb11_NagaikePk
_Bird06RC
Feb11_NagaikePk_Bird20RC.jpg
Feb11_NagaikePk
_Bird20RC
Feb11_NagaikePk_Bird39RC.jpg
Feb11_NagaikePk
_Bird39RC

  This bird was our ultimate find of the day! It's a Uragus sibiricus or Long-tailed Rosefinch. We were so excited to find this bird - it was specifically what we went there to find. We had never seen it before. There were several photographers snapping away at this place - many of them had HUGE Telephoto lenses! This bird likes the berries on this tree so everybody was just hanging out here waiting for one to come.
Feb11_NagaikePk_Uragus_sibiricus_LongTailedRosefinch01scRC.jpg
Feb11_NagaikePk_Uragus_sibiricus
_LongTailedRosefinch01scRC
Feb11_NagaikePk_Uragus_sibiricus_LongTailedRosefinch08cRC.jpg
Feb11_NagaikePk_Uragus_sibiricus
_LongTailedRosefinch08cRC
Feb11_NagaikePk_Uragus_sibiricus_LongTailedRosefinch31eRC.jpg
Feb11_NagaikePk_Uragus_sibiricus
_LongTailedRosefinch31eRC

  More Long-tailed Rosefinch photos - note in the 3rd photo that he is scratching his side.
Feb11_NagaikePk_Uragus_sibiricus_LongTailedRosefinch47RC.jpg
Feb11_NagaikePk_Uragus_sibiricus
_LongTailedRosefinch47RC
Feb11_NagaikePk_Uragus_sibiricus_LongTailedRosefinch54RC.jpg
Feb11_NagaikePk_Uragus_sibiricus
_LongTailedRosefinch54RC
Feb11_NagaikePk_Uragus_sibiricus_LongTailedRosefinch61cRC.jpg
Feb11_NagaikePk_Uragus_sibiricus
_LongTailedRosefinch61cRC
End February 11th, Begin February 16th
  On February 16th we went to Tokyo University's Botanical Garden - the Koishikawa Botanical Garden. It was much larger than we expected and also more impressive then we expected it to be. The first 2 shots here are a very early Cherry Tree. The 3rd shot is Kazuya beside a HUGE Cinnamomum camphora (Camphor Tree).
Feb16_KoishikawaBG_Prunus_jamasakura_var_praecox02RC.jpg
Feb16_KoishikawaBG_Prunus_
jamasakura_var_praecox02RC
Feb16_KoishikawaBG_Prunus_jamasakura_var_praecox09RC.jpg
Feb16_KoishikawaBG_Prunus_
jamasakura_var_praecox09RC
Feb16_KoishikawaBG_Cinnamomum_camphora_Kazuya02RC.jpg
Feb16_KoishikawaBG_Cinnamomum_
camphora_Kazuya02RC

  The first shot here is looking up into that Camphor Tree shown in the 3rd shot in the previous row. The 2nd shot is a Lagerstroemia subcostata and the 3rd shot is a part of their Japanese Garden.
Feb16KoishikawaBG27_CinnamomumCamphoraRC.jpg
Feb16KoishikawaBG27
_CinnamomumCamphoraRC
Feb16KoishikawaBG37_LagerstroemiaSubcostataRC.jpg
Feb16KoishikawaBG37_
LagerstroemiaSubcostataRC
Feb16KoishikawaBG40_JapaneseGardenRC.jpg
Feb16KoishikawaBG40_
JapaneseGardenRC

  Here are 3 amazing Plum Blossom shots.
Feb16_KoishikawaBG_PlumBlossom06RC.jpg
Feb16_KoishikawaBG
_PlumBlossom06RC
Feb16_KoishikawaBG_PlumBlossom09RC.jpg
Feb16_KoishikawaBG
_PlumBlossom09RC
Feb16_KoishikawaBG_PlumBlossom10RC.jpg
Feb16_KoishikawaBG
_PlumBlossom10RC

  And here are 3 more amazing Plum Blossom shots. In the 2nd photo you can see white AND red blossoms.
Feb16_KoishikawaBG_PlumBlossom12RC.jpg
Feb16_KoishikawaBG
_PlumBlossom12RC
Feb16KoishikawaBG69_OosakazukiRC.jpg
Feb16KoishikawaBG69
_OosakazukiRC
Feb16KoishikawaBG72_KagoshimakouRC.jpg
Feb16KoishikawaBG72
_KagoshimakouRC

  Here are 2 more Plum Blossom shots - note the backlighting in the 2nd shot.
Feb16KoishikawaBG75_GosechinomaiRC.jpg
Feb16KoishikawaBG75
_GosechinomaiRC
Feb16_KoishikawaBG_PlumBlossom27_BacklightRC.jpg
Feb16_KoishikawaBG_Plum
Blossom27_BacklightRC
End February 16th, Begin February 23rd
  On February 23rd Kazuya and I went to Nogawa and Musashino Parks, both within easy bicycling distance of our house. The first shot here shows that buds are starting to expand and colors are beginning to show up in the trees. The 2nd shot is some sparrows in a tree and the 3rd shot is another Shibateranthis pinnatifida flower. They are at their peak now.
Feb23_NogawaPk_EarlySpring01RC.jpg
Feb23_NogawaPk_
EarlySpring01RC
Feb23_NogawaPk_Sparrows06RC.jpg
Feb23_NogawaPk_
Sparrows06RC
Feb23_NogawaPk_Shibateranthis_pinnatifida06RC.jpg
Feb23_NogawaPk_Shibateranthis
_pinnatifida06RC

  One final shot of Shibateranthis pinnatifida to start. This shot has been cropped and brightness adjusted with Photoshop. The 2nd shot is an Anemone pseudoaltaica and the 3rd shot is an Adonis sp.
Feb23_NogawaPk_Shibateranthis_pinnatifida14cPSRC.jpg
Feb23_NogawaPk_Shibateranthis
_pinnatifida14cPSRC
Feb23NogawaP20_AnemonePseudoaltaicaRC.jpg
Feb23NogawaP20_Anemone
PseudoaltaicaRC
Feb23_NogawaPk_Adonis02RC.jpg
Feb23_NogawaPk
_Adonis02RC

  The first 2 shots here are Plum blossoms - a white one and a red one. The final shot is a Hamamelis japonica taken from a distance with the sun shining from behind.
Feb23NogawaP24_WhitePlumRC.jpg
Feb23NogawaP24
_WhitePlumRC
Feb23NogawaP25_RedPlumRC.jpg
Feb23NogawaP25
_RedPlumRC
Feb23_MusashinoPk01_HamamelisRC.jpg
Feb23_MusashinoPk01
_HamamelisRC

  The first 2 shots are again Hamamelis japonica. The 3rd shot is another plum tree with a Mejiro (Zosterops japonicus) or Japanese White-eye sitting in it.
Feb23_MusashinoPk03_HamamelisRC.jpg
Feb23_MusashinoPk03
_HamamelisRC
Feb23_MusashinoPk07_HamamelisRC.jpg
Feb23_MusashinoPk07
_HamamelisRC
Feb23_MusashinoPk10_PlumBlossoms_MejiroRC.jpg
Feb23_MusashinoPk10_Plum
Blossoms_MejiroRC
End February 23rd, End Page 2, End February 2008's Photos
  This is a link to a separate web page showing some photos of our DVD Collection, an AVI Movie of our Home Theater System and 9 photos of our Sharp Aquos TV.
    November 11, 2007 DVD Collection,
Movie of Home Theater System
& Sharp Aquos TV Pictures
(new window)

By the way - Kazuya is still maintaining his blog, which exhibits different photos than shown here (mostly - I have used some of his though). It looks very nice and you can find it HERE. (Click on the "Studies of Plants and Wildlife" link in the new window.)

And, that shows you what we saw from February 11th through the end of the month. Thanks so much for taking the time to look at the site this month, I hope you found something you enjoyed looking at. Any feedback is always appreciated. Go To Page:


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