Postcards from Japan

Nakano, Tokyo, April 2012. Any ideas what these are? I recognise a few...

Konichwa readers - I thought I'd put up these bird photos that my friend Ben took in Japan recently. I think they're really great.

The photos came with a little note; this one said something like "odd looking ducks - you can't quite see in this photo but they kinda had these weird ponytails sticking out the backs of their heads". I was like, wow, sounds amazing...not realising that they are of course Tufted ducks and something I see every day here. I guess I've never been to Japan and some part of me probably (naively) imagined the birds there to be all wonderfully exotic. But hey, they got Tufties just like us. There's a lesson there. That comment about the 'ponytails' also struck me. It's totally true (!), though I'd never thought of them like that - it's great to get a non-birder slant on things!

Crows are big in Japan apparently...

...as is blossom. I love this pic. Somewhere at the top of that tree is a bird; I have no idea what it is, but I bet it's pretty cool  (I'm fairly certain it's not a Tufted Duck).

So there you go: Tokyo - it might look a bit like Peckham, but from what I've heard, it's sure worth a trip. Thanks Ben!

www.stereosanctity.blogspot.co.uk