Pinkmoose Birding
The drive to our hotel in Naze gave us 8 Grey-faced Buzzards, usually on telegraph poles and a very brief view of a Lidth's Jay, which we stopped for but it had gone. Somewhere between the airport and Naze, in a town, we spotted another Lidth's Jay. We stopped and spent a great half hour or so watching a pair of these birds going to and from a nest hole in a tree and showing exceptionally well. This species is more normally associated with woodland and we did see a few in Amami's woods but the views were terrible. We were lucky to have found this pair. Also here were three Whistling Green Pigeons (
Treron sieboldii
– scientific name added because this bird seems to have lots of common names!).
Whistling Green Pigeon
In Naze we stopped at the hotel and Armas went in. We milled about for a bit until Armas came out and said we were going to another hotel, which we duly drove to. We unloaded at this hotel and checked in but were soon heading out again, aiming for Amami Virgin Forest at Kinsakubaru. We walked down a track surrounded by thick woodland including exotic-looking tree ferns. The woods were quiet but we did come across one mixed flock that comprised Japanese White-eyes, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Varied and Great Tits, Japanese Bush Warbler, Brown-eared Bulbul and a pair of Ruyuku Minivets, endemic to the Ruyuku Islands and a target species. We also found a couple of
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