May 12 - Shirai Ohmachi Fuji (Wisteria) Kouen (Park), Hyogo

May 5 - Hiokayama Park, Kakogawa city, Hyogo

May 5th is children's day in Japan. 

My husband and I forgot about "things to do" and stayed at Hiokayama Park, Hyogo Prefecture to watch wild birds. 

We left our place at 9:00 a.m.  We drove to the park for about 30 minutes.  We stayed there for all day about 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

I would like to show you several pictures of birds that I took there.

This bird is named Varied Tit in English or Yamagara in Japanese.
The parent bird is taking care of their chicks at the nest.

Long-tailed Tit or Enaga

Oriental Greenfinch or Kawarahiwa

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Great Tit or Shijukara

It was a national holiday that day, so we met several birdwatchers waited for their chances of taking the pictures of the beautiful bird named "the common kingfisher" or Kawasemi in Japanese. 

You may see that this bird, the kingfisher, has black lower beak (the bottom of lip)  which means that this is a male kingfisher.   For female birds, they have red lower beak.    

This bird has a small fish in the beak.

May 4 - Lupinus Flowers in Kakogawa, Hyogo

While I was listening to the local radio program, they informed us that Lupinus flowers were in full bloom in Kakogawa city, Hyogo Prefecture.  So, my husband and I drove east for about 30-minutes to the field.  

It seemed like they have a unique shape, just like corns.  

The flag says "Lupinas no Sato" which means "the Lupinas garden" in English. 

Local volunteer group planted the colorful flowers.  

They also had tents to welcome visitors.  At first, I didn't know where to park our car, so I asked them at the tents.  They were kind enough to show us where the parking lots and the Lupinus gardens were.  

I found one bird, Japanese Wagtail or Seguro Sekirei on the roof

of someone's house.

I took this picture on our way back to the parking lot.
My husband took many pictures of the Lupinus while we stayed there for about  15 minutes.  I thought he seemed to be looking forward to uploading them to his own blog. 

May 3 - Spathiphylum, the foliage plant

Five years ago, I bought a pot of Spathiphylum at a local flower shop.  This is one of the foliage plants which are supposed to be placed indoors.  

I placed it on the window side on the second floor.  As this plant doesn't like too much sunlight, I always put our lace curtains for sun shade.

Spathiphylum is one of the foliage plants. 

I like the white flowers with crescent shape.

I water the plant only once a week, and it grew easily without much attention.  I thought that the location was perfect for the plant.   

Three years ago, I found the plant grew a bit too big for the pot, so I asked my husband, who has a green thumb, to divide the big root.  Then, he planted them in two different pots.  


Last summer, I noticed that one of them grew so big that I needed to water it twice a week.  I usually stay on the first floor and going upstairs to water the plant often was troublesome.  So I decided to try to divide the roots by myself.  I planted them just like the way my husband did.

Last winter, the two plants which I transferred to two different pots didn't look healthy.  Most of the leaves withered.  I cut the brown leaves so that they look better.  

I asked my husband for his advice.  He suggested that I move them to another location with less sun light, so I placed them in the middle of the room. 

Three months have passed and I noticed that they didn't have brown leaves anymore.  They look delicate but young leaves are just staring to grow.  These are signs that they are surviving. 

Last week I placed them on the window side again. 

I learned something from them.  Plants grow when they are taken care of properly.  We should water them regularly.  After a certain period, changing the small pots to bigger ones or dividing the root would be necessary.  However, when we do these things, it makes the plant weaker for a certain period.   

Then they like to be in some places with less sun light for certain period.  I don't know if it's going to be for 10 days or a few months -- it all depends on the kind and size of the plants.  Tend to them regularly.

May 1 - Narcissus Flycatcher

Today my husband and I went to Hiokayama Kouen Park and took pictures of Narcissus Flycatchers or Kibitaki in Japanese. 

They are very conspicuous and I found them easily.

They stay here for only 4 weeks from April to May.

Japanese White-eye in English or Mejiro in Japanese

I am wondering if this bird is a female Blue-and-White flycatcher.

Sorry but I cannot identify the name of the bird.

This is the board map of Hiokayama Kouen Park.

The yellow flower, Siberian Iris is called Ayame here in Japan.

Here is the Oriental Greenfinch or Kawarahiwa flying.

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker or Kogera 

We call Urn Orchid, the purple flower, Shiran in Japanese.