When I look at my photos labeled "Winter", I have to smile. It seems I only take photos when the skies are blue and the trees have blossomed...seems more like "Spring"! Believe me, it really does get chilly here. We don mittens, scarves, hats and coats in December and January each year. My camera just decides to hibernate when I can see my breath!
It is late Febuary now and the cherry blossoms are turning to green leaves. We drove up North past Okuma to look for birds this President's Day. We were in search of the Yanabaru Kuina (Okinawa Rail) and Ryukyu Robin but we were skunked! We did see some grebes, kingfishers, egrets, heron, gallinules, warblers and osprey though. No great birdy shots but we did have a great family day hiking Hiji Falls!
A few weeks ago the cherry trees were sharing their glorious shades of pinks with the lucky folks here in Okinawans. We drove up to Nakajin castle and were amazed with the views. I will make this an annual trip from now on. It felt like we were in a cherry blossom fairy land with the bees and white eyes!
The shots of the cinnamon bittern were taken right before our trip to Nakajin while we were on Camp Lester in the early monring for CCD. I was amazed to see this awesome bird by the tiny creek between the chapel and road! I will be keeping my eyes peeled on that spot every Sunday now!
The cute, furry fruit bat lives by the river by the dam here in Nagahama. It was so nice to see it as the sun was about to set!
