Common Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) are usually found in marshlands and along river banks.
They only visit Okinawa, Japan for the winter months and will be heading somewhere north, shortly.
Normally, they run along the surface of the water flapping their wings during take-off.
But, this guy flapped his wings and ran up the wall.....
..........where he could be with the rest of his buddies!
If you'd like to know more about Moorhens, or any other birds check out THE BIRD FORUM
I go there all the time for help identifying, not just birds, but any kind of critters. It's FREE!
There are probably not too many 20 hour photography days like this left in my body but, I'll share these 10 photos from last Saturday's trip to the north of Okinawa, Japan and hit the PUBLISH BUTTON so I can get back to work doing what I love to do. Outdoors Photography; it makes me Happy.
The day started with an early wake-up for me. I wanted to get up to Ogimi for the Iris Festival and do as much shooting as possible before 9AM. So, I didn't have my usual Friday night massive quantities of beer, went home, walked the mutts and was snoring by 9:30PM. Saturday I was up at 3:30AM chugging cofffee.
My shooting partner didn't answer the 3:30, 4:30 or 5:30 instant messages I sent him so, I figured he must be doing stuff he thought was more important, like sleeping.
It's hard to find a reliable driver these days so, after downing my morning coffee and walking the dogs I figured I'd just load up a car and drive myself. I hate driving.
Doc, the driver who didn't wake up early enough, started setting off the vibrator in my pocket (Cell Phone) just about the time I had driven halfway to Ogimi. That's dangerous, vibrating while driving. You know ?
I pulled over at a convenience store, got some iced coffee and sent a message back telling him I'd be waiting under the Ogimi Bridge.
The bird, in the photo above, is a Rockthrush. I was going to shoot flowers but, when a bird comes on the scene nothing else matters to me. I shot the bird, posing on the bridge, while waiting for Doc to show up.
The plan: Take photos of the purple flowers at the Iris Festival, a big event in Okinawa this time of year.
It was kind of a bummer, though, because the Iris Fields don't always do things according to my plans. There should have been thousands of purple flowers throughout the acres and acres of fields.
We wandered around the edges of the green fields and zoomed-in on the few flowers that looked interesting. Japanese believe an Iris petal looks like a dragon's tongue. So, when you throw one of your baby boys in the bathtub, you throw some Iris petals in the water with him and it'll make him strong, fearless, fierce and bring him good luck. Doesn't this Iris look like a dragon sticking his tongue out at you?
After about a half an hour of searching for an Iris that looked like a dragon, I had enough of the Iris Fields and told Doc, "Lets get outta here, I'm done." We could go shoot birds somewhere.
That's when Doc said, "Look, Cosmos". I had no idea what a Cosmos was and figured he was talking about some new car, Toyota, or somebody invented. So, I followed him over to the Cosmos. Turns out, they're just flowers but, I took some photos, anyway.
Here's a scene, for you, that shows the whole area. There are patches of Cosmos in the foreground, a view of a disappointing (to me) Iris Field in the center and the hills and blue sky in the background.
There was another cameraman like me, only not so hairy, making the best of a bad situation. He was taking pictures of the Cosmos, and kept showing up in my framed compositions so, I shot him, too.
The Iris Fields will probably hold off for another week or two before they come into full bloom.
We went around and shot all kinds of photos of different breeds of flowers for about an hour and a half.
Then, spent the rest of the day getting lost in the mountains, taking pictures of other things you'll get to see, at a later date.
The day started with me snagging a photo of a bird and I ended my day shooting a bird. This is a Grey-faced Buzzard Eagle. They are migratory and usually only visit Okinawa from November until March.
By the time the weekend rolls around again, I should have all my photos from the past week developed. And, if the Iris Fields blossom by then, I'll go back out with the cameras and do another 20 hour day, shooting birds and flowers in Okinawa, Japan. Cuz, that's what I do !
NOTE: READERS LIVING IN OKINAWA HERE'S A GOOGLE MAP FOR YOU. THE IRIS FIELDS ARE LOCATED IN THE KIJIOKA DISTRICT OF OGIMI. PLEASE, DRIVE SAFELY AND ENJOY YOUR VISIT !
It was a Sunday when I spotted this silly sign on a shutter door in a relatively upscale business district of Okinawa, Japan. With hours like 11AM to 9PM, whoever owns the place might just take Sunday's off.
My Webster's American Dictionary (1999) which (you've probably already noticed) I hardly ever use, says a crank is a bent lever turned to operate a machine. Do think this place might be selling, used cranks ?
Friends of mine from the UK probably have an Oxford Dictionary in their house but, they moved to a village too far away for me to walk to so, I'm not going to bother them and try to learn a new kind of English.
A few years ago, I taught auto mechanics. We would call a crankshaft, a crank. But, I would never expect anyone to go looking for a used crank if they wanted to repair their car. Buy a new one; they're better.
Well, my friend from the UK and I were having a beer one day and he asked me if I knew of any place he could rent a flat. I thought he was crazy. Why would you pay someone to rent a flat when you can just let the air out of your spare tire and get a flat for free? You could still get around on the tires that weren't flat.
So, he explains. He didn't mean a flat tire. In the UK, a flat is an apartment. Maybe, I shouldn't have joked about it. Then, they might not have moved so far away from me.
There's a new dictionary I look stuff up in sometimes, just in case I ever travel back to the USA. It seems like they just keep inventing new words and slang so, if I don't want to look like a foreigner I have to study-up before I travel. You can check out the Urban Dictionary anytime you want to learn how to talk like an urbanite, I guess. Their definitions for CRANK ARE HERE.
My blog, I try to keep family oriented so, it's heavily censored, mostly by me.
Anyway, back to this Sunday's Silly Sign. What do you suppose they sell in that store ?
Visit my Homepage for THE PHOTO OF THE DAY
Here is one of several statues I took photos of yesterday at a rock garden in Okinawa, Japan.
The translation of the words on this statue: I'm Happy.
Today has been a twenty hour day, for me. I got up at 3:30AM and it's 11:30PM right now.
It was one of those days where there were so many things to take photos of, I couldn't stop and I wanted to get them all developed while they were still fresh in my mind. Well, I'm done now so, just like that statue, I'm happy, too. Only, instead of standing on a rock and smiling about it, I'm going to go home and crash !
