Today’s photo is a Mejiro¹ hiding out in the middle of some cherry blossoms.

These are called kawazu-zakura². They are a deeper pink than other kinds of cherry blossoms, and usually last longer (up to a few weeks). They are also the earliest cherry blossoms, usually starting to appear around February.

The bird is a mejiro. The English name, Japanese White-Eye, comes from that white ring around their eyes. These guys are always moving to and fro, rarely pausing, so getting a photo of them is really tough.

I took this on a photowalk with a brilliant bird photographer, my buddy Mike Romani. Go look at his work if you want to be amazed.