Not one but two Lifers............

A Collared (or Japanese?) Scops Owl this morning, my first lifer for over a year..............

This was in a place I had been told about but despite numerous visits I had never seen it. Until today.

It was quite high up and the lighting was awkward but I managed to fire off some shots for about 5 or 10 minutes, waiting for it to do something. It was then that one of the self appointed local nature photography 'experts' snapped at my wife that I should leave the spot immediately as (I'm paraphrasing) 'it will cause crows to come and attack it'. This seems pretty farfetched but I thought whatever, no point having an argument. The person who said it by the way is part of a group of photographers that regularly stakes out subjects including a rare breeding species in Hokkaido (which eventually abandoned the nest.......twice) and a nocturnal mammal species this winter that was harrassed at night with a light for days/weeks on end.

A non birding walker pointed the Owl out to my wife anyway and several other non birders were looking at it when I arrived. The Owl didn't seem to care at all.

Bird photography can be a cliquey, competitive and slightly bitchy pastime......................to be honest I'm not really into that side of it and it may be easier to avoid sites where the local nature mafia hang out.

It was very foggy on the coasts so we headed inland where it was fine and sunny again. In the hills was this bird...............

A heavily cropped record shot of what I think is a Grey Faced Buzzard. It was high in the sky and making a strange call, at first I thought it was a Sparrowhawk (but this was too big) and then a Honey Buzzard (wings too slender). This is probably quite a scarce species in Hokkaido...............and after no additions to my Japanese list for just over a year 2 came within a couple of hours..............

Not much else around. My first Lathams Snipe and Oriental Honey Buzzard of the year, Goshawk, my first Eastern Crowned Warbler of the year too, Hawfinch, Brent Goose, Mandarin Duck, Siskin, Crossbill, lots of Russet Sparrow everywhere.................

Here are some of the commoner residents going about doing their thing.............