Sapporo is the fourth largest city in Japan as measured by population. It is sprawling and what seems close on a map can actually be pretty far away. When I plotted this birding location, the map it said it was an hour to an hour and a half away. This is partly due to the need to take public transportation. The trains are fast but the busses take longer as they stop often and never seem to take the direct route. I was going to have to get up early. There is a heat wave here, with temps 15 to 20 degrees above normal. This day was to be the hottest yet at 87 degrees so I woke up at 6 AM, packed my breakfast and filled up my camelback and took off to the station. I was looking for birds by 8 AM. I brought one of my new trekking poles and it was most helpful. When I started being serious about bird watching, I said "if I can find 10 new birds in each new location, I'll have 1000 birds in no time." In the week and a half in Sapporo so far I had only seen four new birds. That put my count at 799 birds, so I was keen on at least breaking the 800 barrier while here. I saw five new birds at this park so 804 is the count and nine new birds in Sapporo is close enough to ten. Huzzah!
The river is big here
Flowers everywhere
The fancy stone welcome sigh
The sign for the Barato River Green Area
Elaborate drainage systems for non drinkable water
Lifebird #1 Masked Bunting
Lifebird #2 Black-browed Reed Warbler, quite the song on this little guy
A few Black Kites were hunting
Lifebird #3 Chestnut Eared Bunting
Some seed pods
Red maple tree
Lifebird #4 Russet Sparrow
Purple irises
Lifebird #5 the common Cuckoo who flew too fast
Amur Stonechat
Black-browed Reed Warbler again
Brown Eared Bulbul the "squeaky toy bird"
Signs are posted so no one gets lost
Large stretches of grasses
Oriental Reed Warbler
A bridge upriver
Mountains off in the distance
Time to head back
A very pretty area
Mossy in the shaded places
Suddenly four dogs!
Two on leash and two off leash
Green pavilions
Birds of a feather
Wildflowers
Fields on the way back to the bus
We drove along another park
The kids heading out to the park
Passed another big rose garden
Blooms everywhere
Almost home and I walked through this temple
Nice shrine
Hand washing station
Dragon water spout
My five mile trek
