Young探鳥会

This afternoon, I joined a birding event for the young, under 40 at Shinobazu pond in Ueno, Tokyo.



Dusk was beginning to fall and the few green leaves of lotus still remain were turning yellow in the low light.



オナガガモ♂（Northern Pintail)
目の前にいるから、羽根の一枚一枚はよく見えるのだけれど、どんどん向きを変えるので、意外に全体の形がとりにくい。



キンクロハジロ♀（Tufted Duck）
At Shinobazu pond, ducks were so close by that I could sketch them with the naked eye.

But today's stars were Bramblings, a houndred of them. I was so excited that I forgot to draw. It is said that this winter we can see a lot of Bramblings in Tokyo area.

Skimmer

Black Skimmer（クロハサミアジサシ）
My favorite bird in Texas. Their lower bill is longer than the upper bill. They can catch fish by using skimming trick, that is to skim the surface of the water with the lower bill and snap fish with upper bill. Bird's bills are really varied and surprising.

ホップ

ずいぶんと更新が滞ってしまった。何しろ学祭に中間テストに、イベントの企画にいろいろ忙しかった。いや、今も大変だ！　テキサスの絵もまだアップし終えていないけど、先に９月の信州旅行から一枚。



カラハナソウ
ビールに苦味、香り、泡を添えるのに使うホップ（セイヨウカラハナソウ）の変種で日本の山野に自生している種らしい。祖母が昔のホップ摘みの思い出を話してくれた。そういえば、モームの『人間の絆』にも夏休みにケント州の農場でホップを摘む印象的なシーンが出てくる。ホップ摘みは昔は、夏バイトのようなものだったらしい。

This September, I went to Nagano via Usui pass with my grandmother. We walked along a part of an old railway trail through the Usui pass. Finding this plant, my grandmother said "This is hop, I guess. It is used as a flavoring and stability agent in beer. I remember going to some farms to pick hops with my grandmother." My grandmother's grandmother!!

When I came back home, I looked into this plant and learned that it was Japanese indigenous variant species of Hop. Original hops are used in beer but not this variant.