Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2024 Day Four

Yesterday, between business calls, I wandered along the Imperial Palace moat near Takebashi. In the moat were the usual Eurasian Coots, Tufted Ducks, and Shovelers. In the trees and flycatching over the water were a number of birds that I photographed poorly in the hope of later identifying them. I had only a wide angle lens with me, so I was unable to get good close-up shots. Still, sitting on the Shinkansen, heading north to Niigata, Asian bird field guide in my lap, I've decided a small, brownish bird with a rufous tail and a conspicuous white wing patch was a female Daurian Redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus). I saw a White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) on top of one of the moat walls, wagging its tail. Larger birds, flycatching over the moat, appear to have been Brown-eared Bulbuls (Hypsipetes amaurotis), and I again saw the Eurasian Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus) that I first noticed the day before yesterday. I even found a pair of these nesting in a tree hollow (pictured).