2018 Best Of #7

In July we made a short trip to north Hokkaido................

2018 Best Of #6

Some of the little birds from early summer.............

North Hokkaido 2018 #7

Black-browed Reed Warblers seemed to be more numerous on the Ohotsku coast than I remember............

More from a grey Sunday..........

Just common stuff at this time of year..............

A very grey June weekend.............

Some rotten weather at the weekend...............

Some early summer birds

The weather has been very warm and sunny the last few days...............

The last arrivals...........

We stopped at Yakumo on the way and way back from our short trip..................

A night away

We went camping a few days ago.................

A summer favourite

A Black-browed Reed Warbler at Yakumo this afternoon...........

A pair of little brown birds.............

A Japanese Bush Warbler on the grasslands near Oshamanbe yesterday.............

Summer

Well spring is over and summer is here.................

2015 Best Of #3

Some more of my fave shots from the last year...............

Halfway

Well halfway through 2015 and it has been raining rather a lot.

Kingfisher and Chestnut Eared Bunting on the river last week, the regular summer species everywhere: Wryneck, Osprey, the above Black Browed Reed Warbler at Asabu yesterday. At Kamiiso there were 5 Goosander, 2 Red Breasted Merganser and 1 female Pochard: the latter 2 species probably sick or injured birds as I usually don't see them in summer.

Black Browed Reed Warbler

A Black Browed Reed Warbler at Oshamanbe yesterday..............

Busy

A Black Browed Reed Warbler at Oshamabe and an Osprey at Yakumo last Monday.

Very busy this last week and despite the fine weather I couldn't get out much. Among the usual summer stuff I did notice an influx of Intermediate Egret into the ricefields though............

So work work work and a disastrous World Cup...............not the happiest June of my life!

2 weeks of nothing

Well it's been dark, foggy and drizzly for the last 12 days. The above Black Browed Reed Warbler was taken on this day just outside Hakodate 5 years ago (with my 400D/100-400). The weather was crap then too I see.

Hopefully I'll get out and about soon and take some pics, I'm also as busy as I've ever been workwise (I'm self employed so this is mainly a good thing).

Mind you my only immediate plan involves me getting up early tomorrow to shout and scream curses at the TV.

I may go to Onuma after the Italy game, perhaps both England and me won't have a fruitless visit to a humid mozzie infested forest.

Meet the locals #9

Black Browed Reed Warbler Acrocephalus bistrigiceps

Summer in the grasslands

An Eastern Marsh Harrier near Oshamanbe on Sunday.

After Yakumo we were on the grasslands near Oshamanbe. All the common species were singing and there were also flocks of Sand Martin above.

Black Browed Reed Warblers are absolutely abundant in this place.................

I took a short video on a rickety old tripod..............



This was another individual which seems to have lost most of  its tail

Back at Yakumo I tried again for the Ospreys. One of them was sitting on some driftwood on the opposite bank..................too far away for a pic though.

Wish it had been as close as this Black Kite..............

On the way home we stopped at Onuma where I got my first mosquito bite of 2013.

There was a lone Whooper Swan sitting in the shade next to the lake. I guess this is an old or injured bird that couldn't make the spring trip back up north.

Or maybe it was just lazy.................

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Linked to Wild Bird Wednesday.

Saunders Gull

An immature Saunders Gull at Yakumo today. Nothing special about the pictures but it was rather a nice find, my first lifer for over a year. There were only a handful of Black Tailed and Slaty Backed Gulls around and at first I dismissed this as a rather late Black Headed Gull (they sometimes hang on until June). I was trying (without success) to get some pics of the fishing Ospreys when it flew over making a noise like a Common Tern...............a big surprise to see this species so far north in Japan and at this time of year too.

June is a handy month for finding these kind of vagrants..................7 years ago I got a Caspian Tern and 4 years ago I got a Gull Billed Tern (the latter also at Yakumo).

It was a strange day, sunny for short periods and then foggy. All the summer stuff was in full voice at Yakumo. Lathams Snipe, Siberian Stonechat, Oriental Reed, Black Browed Reed, Japanese Bush and Grays Grasshopper Warbler, Oriental and Common Cuckoo, Skylark, Chestnut Eared and Black Faced Bunting and Long Tailed Rosefinch were all singing. Other birds around included 2 White Throated Needletail, 2 Intermediate Egret and Little Ringed Plover. A pair of Osprey were fishing, I guess that means the eggs have hatched..............

There were lots of Siberian Stonechat around..............

And lots of these too........................a singing Black Browed Reed Warbler..............

I was hoping to spend a mellow Sunday night drinking cold beer and listening to the cricket. Damn the weather in south Wales................well at least I still have the beer option.
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The other Reed Warbler

A Black Browed Reed Warbler at Oshamanbe this afternoon. This is one of my favourite summer visitors, I much prefer it to its noisier relative the Oriental Reed Warbler..............

They are abundant in the grasslands in summer, really they are incredibly common in the right habitat. You can see how they get their name..............

Most of the regular stuff was around including an Eastern Marsh Harrier that was very closse but still managed to drift away before I was ready to take a shot. I see this species pretty much every time I visit the right habitat but still haven't managed anything other than blurry record shots.

It was a very clear hot day, easily the warmest of the year so far. Despite visiting Kamiiso, Yakumo, Oshamabe and Onuma (and several other places en route) it was not a successful day with the camera, I must have used up all my luck for 2013 in those few days back in the middle of May.

England are going to bore Australia into submission in the Ashes.

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