 Last additions - Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork 兵庫県立コウノトリの郷公園 |
Airline with a plane donning an Oriental White Stork motif.Dec 25, 2018
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Oriental White Stork manhole in Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture.Dec 25, 2018
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Oriental White Stork manhole in Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture.Dec 25, 2018
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Confection shaped like stork eggs.Dec 25, 2018
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Gift shops in this building next to the parking lot.Dec 25, 2018
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Park's website: http://www.stork.u-hyogo.ac.jp/en/Dec 25, 2018
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Large biotope used as a stork sanctuary and research facility.Dec 25, 2018
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About the biotope.Dec 25, 2018
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Nesting platform.Dec 25, 2018
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Part of the park is a large biotope used as a stork sanctuary and research facility. Only part of it is open to the public.Dec 25, 2018
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Even insects.Dec 25, 2018
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Aquariums with fish.Dec 25, 2018
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Screening room.Dec 25, 2018
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Exhibits.Dec 25, 2018
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The hanafuda card with the "crane" is actually an Oriental white stork. It actually looks like a cross between the two birds...Dec 25, 2018
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Back inside the Oriental White Stork Culture Center. On the left is the European white stork with a red bill, on the right is the Oriental white stork with a black bill. Very similar.Dec 25, 2018
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Oriental white stork nests are large, about 2 meters diameter, made of tree branches and straw.Dec 25, 2018
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Two Oriental white storks on a nesting platform. Each nesting platform has a video camera monitoring it 24/7 especially during the egg-laying and hatching season in spring.The park is likely crowded during this time until the babies leave the nest in June/July.Dec 25, 2018
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Landing on a nesting platform.Dec 25, 2018
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Oriental white stork eating a fish.Dec 25, 2018
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Storks swallow the fish whole.Dec 25, 2018
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Crows also drop by.Dec 25, 2018
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Grey herons also drop by, but they are always fighting each other.Dec 25, 2018
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Feeding time for the storks also attracts unwanted birds like black kites. They swoop in and steal a fish, then don't come back.Dec 25, 2018
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White stork landing in the paddy during feeding time.Dec 25, 2018
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They make a loud clacking noise with their bills.Dec 25, 2018
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I didn't expect to see the storks flying around, so I was thrilled when a few of them flew overhead while I was in the park. They flew in during feeding time.Dec 25, 2018
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From 2005, the park started releasing Oriental white storks into the wild in Toyooka, which was a great celebration. The birds then started to breed and reproduce in the wild.They've been releasing only a few birds (fewer than 5) almost every year.Dec 25, 2018
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As of Oct. 2018, Japan has over 140 Oriental white storks in the wild. They are also successfully breeding in Tokushima, Shimane, and Kyoto Prefectures. It's still an endangered species, with only slightly over 2,000 of them in the Far East.Dec 25, 2018
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In 1985, six wild Oriental white stork chicks from the USSR (Khabarovsk) were acquired to be raised in Toyooka. From 1989, the birds from Russia started to breed successfully in captivity in Toyooka every year.
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Toyooka was where the last living Oriental white stork in Japan died in 1986. Pesticides in rice paddies (where they feed) and other environmental problems caused their demise.Dec 25, 2018
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Once found all over Japan, the Oriental white stork ("kounotori" in Japanese) became extinct in the wild in Japan in 1971 despite preservation efforts since 1955.Dec 25, 2018
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The Oriental white stork is a big, beautiful bird often mistaken as the Japanese crane. Wingspan is 2 meters.Dec 25, 2018
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The storks are carnivores, feeding on fish, frogs, snakes, rabbits, mice, etc. Dec 25, 2018
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The Oriental white stork has black and white wings and a black bill.Dec 25, 2018
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Around 9:30 am to 10 am, they feed the storks. This is the best time to visit the park. And the best chances of seeing storks flying around.Dec 25, 2018
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They are throwing small dead fish into the paddies. Dec 25, 2018
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About the Oriental white stork open cage.Dec 25, 2018
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So if you go to Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork, you can see real Oriental white storks.Dec 25, 2018
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Toyooka Oriental White Stork Culture Center's open cage for Oriental white storks. There are about nine storks in the open cage. Their wings have been clipped to they cannot fly. Dec 25, 2018
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Toyooka Oriental White Stork Culture Center's open cage for Oriental white storks. It includes paddies used for feeding. The cage is "open" because it only hasa fence and no roof.Dec 25, 2018
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Inside the Oriental White Stork Culture Center. Walk through this building to the other side of the building to see the open cage.Dec 25, 2018
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On the left is the Toyooka Kounotori Bunkakan or Oriental White Stork Culture Center.Dec 25, 2018
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On the right is the park's administrative building.Dec 25, 2018
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The building in the middle is the University of Hyogo Graduate School of Regional Resource Management.Dec 25, 2018
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Basic map of Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork. Only one building on the left is open to the public.Dec 25, 2018
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Gate to Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork. Open: 9:00 am–5:00 pm, closed Mondays (open if a national holiday and closed the next day instead), December 28th–January 4th.Dec 25, 2018
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White stork mail box at Oriental White Stork Park in Toyooka, Hyogo.Dec 25, 2018
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Kounotori can also mean "bird bringing happiness." Sculpture related to the bird of happiness. Makes people happy especially when the stork delivers your baby.Dec 25, 2018
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Rice paddy has a high nesting platform. The nest still intact.Dec 25, 2018
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Spider web.Dec 25, 2018
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Huge rice paddy within Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork.Dec 25, 2018
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Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork has a few buildings amid large rice paddies and mountains.Dec 25, 2018
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Love Toyooka's bag bus.Dec 25, 2018
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The bus going to Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork Park is designed like a bag to promote Toyooka as a bag-producing city.Dec 25, 2018
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From JR Toyooka Station, there are buses that go to Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork Park. However, they run only once or twice an hour. Bus schedule under the purple column.Dec 25, 2018
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Oriental white stork decoration at JR Toyooka Station. To see real, living Oriental white storks, you have to visit the Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork Park.Dec 25, 2018
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Vending machine with Oriental white stork design motif at JR Toyooka Station.Dec 25, 2018
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Directional sign at JR Toyooka Station.Dec 25, 2018
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When you arrive JR Toyooka Station, you will soon notice that the Oriental white stork ("kounotori" in Japanese) is the symbol of the city. Even the roof looks like a soaring bird. Dec 25, 2018
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