Kanda River Bird Photography with Cherry Blossoms
Kanda River bird photography! I finally did it, and I did it with the cherry blossoms. Yes, the flowers were in bloom. Well, more precisely, they were at their peak. It was going to be a great day.
Many people were walking, jogging, or taking pictures. The flowers bloom for only a short time, so everyone wanted one more chance to see them. So did I.
Do you know the Kanda River? It starts as a stream in Inokashira Park and flows east, eventually ending in the Sumida River. My walk was along a part of it, from Takaido to Hamadayama.
In this area, the Kanda River is like a canal. It is narrow and has high concrete walls. When the cherry blossoms bloom, it comes alive. Most years, I take photos of its trees. 2022 was different.
This time many of the trees’ branches were missing. I haven’t been able to confirm this yet, but apparently, they had been suffering from some disease. As a result, the decision was made to cut them to prevent its spread.
So the Kanda River now looked very different. In previous springs, the cherry blossoms reached out over the water. They were gorgeous. Not anymore because many branches were gone. Things look very different.
Furthermore, the weather failed me. It was overcast! The 2022 cherry blossom season was a disaster. I only had one day of great weather for it. Only one!
I used the Fujifilm X-T3 and 100-400 mm lens again. For bird photography, it’s my best lens. But the Kanda River changed my mind about that slightly.
As I already mentioned, the river is relatively narrow. Houses and trees are on both sides. So that meant anything in flight was difficult to spot. I only spotted flying birds at close ranges. A shorter lens might have been a better choice as it gives a wider field of view.
For my Kanda River bird photography walk, I saw:
- Brown-eared Bulbuls
- Great egrets
- Pigeons
- Crows
- Eastern spot billed-ducks
They are all standard city birds and not different from what I saw at Zenpukuji Park recently. I’d like to go somewhere else to photograph new ones. On the internet are many excellent websites with some great suggestions. Leave questions and comments below.
Rohan Gillett
Rohan has lived in Tokyo for 30+ years. He loves photography and plans to capture the entire city.
More birding articles
External related websites
- 10 Tips for Photographing Birds (on Audubon)