Persimmon Feast and “Snowball Sakura”
What happens with the persimmon tree during the winter if it is still full with fruits? Birds feast of course.
These are the pictures from yesterday (the tree was in the yard of a very small temple not far away from Nishinada Hanshin station):
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Not only sparrows were feasting. The Japanese white eyes were also participating actively:
By the way Japan is the only country where you can see the Japanese white eye free in the wild. The only other place is Hawaii but they were artificially introduced there.
A short movie (you can not see the main participants of the feast but you can here them):
And here comes the “Snowball Sakura”:
I do not know what kind of tree is this but from far away it really resembles blossoming cherry trees. From close though the difference is obvious :)
Here we met two more representatives of the Japanese flying fauna. The Grey Starling (first picture) and the Turtle Dove (second picture):
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The Grey Starling is typical for East Asia. During the winter it migrates to warmer places so the one on the picture most probably comes from northern China or even Siberia.
Just one more picture – the flying dove and the “snowball sakura”:
3 Comments on Persimmon Feast and “Snowball Sakura”
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Thank you for beautiful pictures.
By the way, the tree, snowball sakura, looks like Nankin-haze, scientific name Triadica sebifera. If the leaves of the tree turn red in autumn the tree is most likely it, I suppose.
http://photozou.jp/photo/show/150060/6179238
http://ikimono8000.blog36.fc2.com/?tag=%A5%CA%A5%F3%A5%AD%A5%F3%A5%CF%A5%BC
Sorry I can’t find suitable photos in English site.
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Thank you jtomi!
Precise information as always. Having the name of the tree I did some research on my own and I found that in English it is known as Chinese tallow and it is considered to be invasive species in Europe and America.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_tallow
By the way it seems that it spreads so efficiently on these continents not because of its alkaloids (toxins) but rather because both herbivores and insects have a conditioned behavioral avoidance to eating its leaves:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118778173/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0