Japan Day Four: Enoshima

View from the observation tower on Enoshima

(Note: this was actually day five of our trip (day four was rainy and birdless) but I didn't want to confuse the chronology of the blog posts).

A clear bright Sunday morning. A perfect day for heading down to Enoshima and Kamakura to see the ocean.

One bird dominates Enoshima and that's the tobi (black kite).

They perch on the roofs of area buildings and swarm in the air.

Frequent signs warn tourists to beware the tobi, known to snatch sandwiches and ice cream cones right out of people's hands. Here's a clip (not mine) that illustrates the sheer density of the tobi population at the sea shore.

Of course, on the East Coast of the US, the swarming snack snatcher is the gull (I once had a whole platter of natchos snatched by an aggressive Ogunquit herring gull). At Enoshima in the summer gulls are actually surprisingly difficult to find. Here's a what I believe is an umineko (black-tailed gull) flying by.

In the distance, out of real identification range, gulls and a darker bird (either tobi or imature umineko) were swarming on a food source.

But gulls and kites are not the only birds to be found at Enoshima. Here's a sign that suggests others to look out for.

I saw the isohiyodori (blue rock thrush) and the mejiro in addition to the tobi and the umineko but that was about it. It wasn't really a birdwatching day.

I did stumble upon a couple of other bits of Enoshima nature, though. The first is this unidentified caterpillar.

The second is this little fish hiding in a tidal pool.

Looks from above like a kind of gobi.