The ume blossoms are looking good! If you're unfamiliar with the ume, they're a blossom that blooms in late winter/early spring, usually around February or March. The blossoms themselves are delicate, pink, pale white, or deep red, and they have a sweet fragrance. That means beautiful blossoms, a lovely smell, and... mejiro!

What makes the ume blossoms even more special are the mejiro that they attract. Mejiro, also known as Japanese white-eye, are a pretty small bird, only around 11cm in length (about 4 inches). They have yellowish-green feathers, making them stand out from other birds. They love sweet things, so the plum blossoms attract them.

They also really love oranges, and so those are a common lure used by bird photographers around here. While they are certainly easier to photo in a more controlled setting where you are luring them out, I enjoy the challenge of trying to get shots of them this way.

Mejiro can be found in many East Asian countries and have even been introduced to Hawaii. In Japan they are revered as a symbol of good luck and prosperity, making them popular to depict in paintings, poetry, and so on.

Every year I come out to photo the blossoms on at least several days. At least one of those days I usually dedicate more to finding and getting shots of mejiro. They can be a bit elusive, so it often involves some waiting and patience

This tree is at an abandoned house. Abandoned houses are not uncommon in Japan, they are in fact something of a problem. I've been coming to this particular house every year for at least 15 years now, and every year it blooms brilliantly and attracts many mejiro. It's a fairly tall tree, which is why many of my shots are looking upward. Oddly, I never see any other photographers here.

I was never much for birds or flowers before I came to Japan, believe it or not. The country's incredibly focus on the blossoms every year encouraged me to become interested in them. As for bird photography, I was introduced to it by another photographer. Back when Flickr was the place for photographers to go and post, I often shared my photos there. At the time I was contacted by a photographer also based in Japan who liked my photos and wanted to hang out. We became friends and went shooting together sometimes. He introduced me to bird photography and gave me information on all of them. To this day most of what I know about Japanese birds comes from him.

At these particular blossoms, there are sparrows who also like the blossoms and will come and chase the mejiro away. So it becomes a race: when the sparrows get tired and fly off, the mejiro will swoop in. From that moment I have limited time to get photos, because the sparrows will soon be back to chase them away again.

The blossoms are already beginning to fade, so I may not go out to shoot them again. We'll see. The kawazu cherry blossoms and the peach blossoms are already blooming, so I may move on to those next! Sometimes we can catch the mejiro at them, so I may have more photos of these little guys soon.

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.