のうぜんかずらの家

If I had a house with a garden, I would plant this Chinese trumpet vine. Along the road to my high school, there were many houses that had this vine. I would often pick up fallen flowers on the road and float them in a bowl of water.

Meadow Bunting

ホオジロ(Meadow Bunting)
In summer, only a few birds can be seen and heard in lowland forests. Because most birds breed in mountains and even those that remain there don't sing during late breeding season.
During the monthly birdwatching event in June, the forest was really quiet with occasional Taiwan spuirrels' squeaks. The summer was just around the corner.
In the silent forest, Meadow Bunting alone was singing at the top of a cherry tree. He was the star of that day.

砂漠

砂漠でたった一人で迷ったら、
西でも東でも、北でも南でもいいから、とにかくいったん歩き始めたら二度と絶対に方向を変えないこと。
いったん歩き始めた方向が、街やオアシスへの最短距離なのだと思い込むこと。

森達也『東京スタンピード』より


卒論調査という、砂漠をさまよっている気分だ。データがあまりとれなくて、不安な日々。
先生に相談に行ったら、あまりコロコロ変えても、データにならなくなる。このまま続けてみましょう、と言われた。ふと上の一節を思い出した。ひたすら歩き続けてみることも必要なのかもしれない。「弱気になって方向を変えてばかりいたら、最後まで砂漠から抜け出せない」から。



でも、歩き続けるなら、風景の変わる旅がしたい。同じ調査地に通い続ける、研究者気質がわたしにはどうやら足りないようだ。
ヤマグワからヒメコウゾ。季節がどんどん変わっていくのは、焦るけれど、ありがたい。

＠研究室

These days, I spend most of my time in and around the university. When I'm home, I don't want to go to school　but once I go there, it is also a pain in the neck going back home.


One thing that had bothered me about being in university was that I could not do any of my art works.
So I took a palette and some brushs of water color to the school and bought a new sketchbook. Now, I can draw pictures at my desk in the university, too!




ヤマザクラ(Prunus jamasakura)



クマシデ（Carpinus japonica）

きびだんご

7日はバードソンだった。Birdwatching + marathon = Birdathon。毎年行われる、この学生バードソンは、12時間のうちに何種類の鳥を見聞きできるかをチームごとに競うイベントだ。
今年は、友人たちの調査を手伝いつつの参加。だから目標種数は1種＝キビタキ。たぶんキビタキだけは10個体以上を見聞きした。

チーム「きびだんご」のロゴマークを描いていたら、ついでに鳥のお手玉を作りたくなった。きびだんご、るりだんご。売れないかな～

Life List

Hoopoe (ヤツガシラ）
少し前に、都内の公園に来ていたヤツガシラ。珍鳥の追っかけを趣味にはしたくない、と思うのだけれど、情報をもらうとつい見に行ってみたくなってしまう。

Hoopoe was my 250th "Lifer bird" in Japan; a "new bird" for me. Bird watchers love to compile a life list, which is a list of all the birds species they saw in their lifetime. Someone told me that a person with more than 300 Japanese bird's life list is a real crazy birder.

I don't want to chase very uncommon visitors to Tokyo just to add one more to my list. I'd rather visit their nomal habitat myself. That's what I'm usually thinking...but actually, I went to a park in Tokyo to see this Hoopoe right after I got the information!

It seems that this life list habit is unique to birders when I look around other naturalists. I've met no botanist nor animal watchers talking about their life list. Maybe birds are just about good number of species to count life list, not too few like mammals, not too many like plants or insects.