A Yellow Wagtail near Wakanai last week..........
Before the trip I had 3 target species to add to my Japan list. The nasty weather at the start of the week put paid to looking for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but I still had hopes for the other 2..............
That dot in the middle is a male Yellow Breasted Bunting in Sarobetsu. This is already a heavy crop, it was a long long way away. Anyway, a lifer and #283 on my J-list.
Also around in the area where White Tailed Eagle, Eastern Marsh Harrier and Northern Hobby but nothing came close enough to photograph.
We headed south towards the Rumoi area for our last night of camping. This roadside Siberian Rubythroat was the last of the trip..............
The other bird I'd been hoping to see was Lanceolated Warbler. I didn't hear a single one in north Hokkaido (although my ability to hear high souinds is terrible). I gave up. 1 out of 3 was not so bad.
We were running ahead of schedule as we headed back home to south Hokkaido so we stopped at Mukawa, I was hoping for a Marsh Harrier or one of the Japanese Cranes that seemed to have taken up residence in the area. I saw neither but I did see this...............
A Lanceolated Warbler, another lifer and #284.
Now 2 out of 3 in great news Stuart. Have a lovely weekend.
ReplyDeleteBut I'll have to go back for #3 at some point in the future.................................
DeleteGreat that you got at least one lifer. Obviously the longer you live in Japan the harder is going to be to add new species.
ReplyDeleteHi David, actually I got 2 new birds this trip. The number of lifers is drying up a little, only 4 or 5 a year for the last few years. I rarely leave Hokkaido, on the island there are maybe 20 or so species of varying degrees of scarcity I could realistically see if I keep going. On the other islands in Japan there are many more however. I've only seen 284 species in Japan but 275 of those have been in Hokkaido!
DeleteLanceolated Warbler must be a good find anywhere, even better to get pictures of one out in the open. Yellow Wagtail gets harder to find here. So much so that it has become a species to chase after in the North West especially.
ReplyDeleteYour Yellow Wagtail looks very distinctive with that black through the eye and ear coverts.
Hi Phil, I don't recall seeing any Yellow Wagtails when I was back in the NW recently, they used to be common on the Ribble marshes.
DeleteI remember lots on the Ribble marshes and another good place was the water meadow where the Rothay runs into Windermere at Ambleside. Good place for reed warblers too. Ah!! the memories.
ReplyDeleteOne of several species much scarcer than when we used to go out birding in the early 1980's. Other species seem to be doing well at least. Buzzard/Nuthatch/Little Egret/Marsh Harrier for example.
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