May 24 - Harima Chuo Kouen, Hyogo

My husband and I visited Harima Chuo Kouen, Hyogo Prefecture today. 

 

"Harima" indicates "southern part of Hyogo Prefecture".  Chuo means "central" and Kouen is the word for "park" in Japanese language. 

 

They have a Rose Festival starting from May 23 to June 7, 2015.

 

My husband still wanted to take more pictures of roses.  On the other hand, I had already been  satisfied with my photos which were taken on May 13 when we visited Suma Rikyu Rose Garden.  I was more interested in observing wild birds on the way there.  

 

Today, I found tree sparrows, Japanese White-eyes, and the Great Tit while walking to the rose garden.  Most of them were young birds and their parents.  The chicks looked cute because of their clumsiness in moving while their parents were working very hard to find tiny worms and feeding them. 

 

 

The parent sparrow found a worm on a branch.

It landed on the ground and tightly secured the food with its beak.

 

It is getting very warm this time of the year, and I feel comfortable if I can find shade.
 

I never get bored whenever I find some parent birds feeding their chicks,
and the latter chirping (or demanding) for food. 

My husband looked tired after the 10-minute walk.  Luckily, he found a sign which showed another 10-minute to the rose garden. 

These two pictures were taken while we were far away from the bird, the Great Tit. 
It is not very clear, but I was still happy to take the shots.   

* * * * * * * * * *

Finally, we arrived at the rose garden.  My husband asked me to buy him a soft ice cream.

It cost 350 yen.  At first I hesitated to buy one because of the high price,
but I yielded in later and bought one just for him.

 

There were many visitors, some of which had SLR (Single Lens-Reflex) cameras like us.

 

* * * * * * * * * *

On our way back to our car, I noticed a Barn Swallow
resting on the stainless pole of the library building.

The swallow was conspicuous against the orange bricks.  

I found an article from The Yomiuri Shimbun dated May 28.  It said as follows:

"In Spring, swallows arrive from the southern countries to build nests under the eaves of houses.  Their eggs hatch in early summer, and the chicks call for food."

I watched this bird for about 10 minutes. 

The swallow sometimes flew back and forth to the nest. 
There may be some little chicks inside the nest, but I couldn't see any of them. 

Usually, swallows fly fast like the Shikansen, the super express/bullet trains.  They move very quickly from one place to another.  They seldom allow us to take clear pictures of them.  As I already experienced getting blurry photos of them many times.  I thanked this bird for giving me an auspicious opportunity to take great shots.

I also recognized that my presence was  nothing but a hassle for the swallow,  I knew that I should not stay long.  I headed to the car which my husband had been waiting for me long patiently.