Autumn Terns

On Monday we headed north................

2018 Best Of #3

Some more shots from earlier in the year...............

Some February Kittiwakes

The ports to the east of town still held quite a few Black-legged Kittiwakes on Sunday.................

Another Sunday out east..............

On a bitterly cold Sunday we headed east of town again.................

Still no red legs

There were still loads of kittiwakes out east last Thursday..............

2018 begins...........

My first birding of 2018 was yesterday.....................

The blizzards return............

The nasty weather returned on Christmas Day. Very windy with sleet turning to heavy snow. Out east there were still lots of Black-legged Kittiwakes on the coast. There must have been at least 1 Red-legged among them but if there was I couldn't find it.

7 other gull species were around as were Harlequin Duck, Brent Goose and Black-necked Grebe.

A lot of Kittiwakes..........

A lousy week weatherwise but on Sunday there were lots of Black-legged Kittiwakes out east..............

A grey Monday morning..............

A Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker in Hakodate this morning...............

And some squabbling gulls in Yakumo this afternoon.............

Yet more autumn staples

A Black Necked Grebe at Toya yesterday and a Black Legged Kittiwake at Yakumo this afternoon..............

England 2015 #5

My last batch of photos from England..................

England 2015 #4

Some more birds from the Farnes..............

Hello Kitty

A close up of a Black Legged Kittiwake in Menegawa this morning. Annoyingly the harbour was the only place in the whole area under clouds, there were lots of them to-ing and fro-ing but my BIF attempts were not great (also I had the 1.4 extender on). White birds against dark grey skies just doesn't work.

Not much else around. A few Crossbill in the east of town, that's about it.................

A short autumnal trip

A Black Legged Kittiwake, one of 7 Gull species at Yakumo this afternoon at end of a short trip away...........

Out east

 One of many Glaucous Winged Gulls in Menagawa the other day. We headed east out of town, there are some small fishing ports there that sometimes have interesting stuff.

Lots of Harlequin Ducks for example.

Autumn returns

A female Black Woodpecker at Onuma this afternoon. It was very mild today, all the snow has melted in Hakodate and Onuma.

Hailstorms

Only common birds again today at Yakumo. The Hooded Crane appears to have left and the only kittiwakes were a small number of the black legged variety. There is (or was) supposed to be a Sandhill Crane a couple of hours drive to the north last week................would have been a nice find for the person who discovered it..

Winter is on its way, reflected in the birds. 8 species of gull, Great Egret, Whooper Swan, various common ducks, a few distant White Tailed Eagle, Black Necked and Great Crested Grebe, Brown Dipper and Japanese Wagtail.

There was a huge hailstorm in Yakumo, complete with thunder and lightning. The end of autumn is near.


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Red Legged Kittiwake

It's a crap picture  but the bird in the dead centre is a first year Red Legged Kittiwake, only my third lifer of the year.

This may or may not be the same bird.

Yakumo has really produced the goods this year, all my 3 lifers so far in 2013 have been there in the exact same spot (give or take a few metres).

There were hundreds of Black Legged Kittiwake..............

The only non BIFs were this tired individual in a port just north of Yakumo.

There were 8 species of gull altogether including my first Glaucous of the winter. There were also atleast 2 Pomarine Skua, one was bathing in the river in amongst all the gulls.

Skeins of White Fronted Goose and Brent Goose were heading south, there were flocks of Wigeon, Pintail and Scaup as well as the first Goldeneye of the seaon. Other stuff included Great Crested and Black Necked Grebes, Great Egret, Dunlin and Greenshank.

My lens still isn't here ('about a month' has taken five and a half weeks so far) but apparently should be ready for me to pick up on Thursday, I won't break its cherry until Sunday at the earliest.

Not much in Hakodate, the weather has been lousy this autumn especially on my days off. An Arctic Warbler (or whatever they are called after the recent splits, Kamchatka Leaf warbler is it?) was in the bushes along the river with other unidentified stuff flitting around. Onuma was too dark for photos today but I did see Black Woodpecker and Japanese Grosbeak.

England surprised me in the World Cup qualifiers. In a nice way too.

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In Limbo

A Kingfisher at Yakumo this morning.

I'm in limbo, waiting for my new lens to come. I was thinking how much better these shots would have been.

Slightly pathetic I know.

But 700mm at f5.6 would mean a lot less cropping, or 500mm at f4 would mean a lower ISO. I have to use my 100-400L at f8 to get acceptable images most of the time.

Let's hope they stick around then.

There were loads of skuas offshore, no doubt blown in on the strong easterly wind. Most of them were Pomarine Skua (I think, any comments appreciated re the ID). Here are a few to give you an idea, still too far for a decent shot with my current lerns (c'mon Kojima and Canon, hurry up, hurry up!).

I think there may have been some Arctic and Long tailed Skuas among them but I am terrible at skua ID. Is this one an Arctic?

I put some (even worse) photos on birdforum for help with ID.

Lots of other stuff on the move. In Onuma this morning there were thrushes, buntings and Japanese Grosbeaks aplenty. A Greenshank was a surprise (I don't see many waders there).

 At Yakumo there were the first swnas of the winter, 5 Bewicks Swan. Here are 4 of them...............

There were also Scaup, Wigeon and Black Necked Grebe. And growing numbers of Black Legged Kittiwake both at Yakumo and Sawara.

Other stuff around included Japanese Green Pigeon, Peregrine, Osprey and Great Egret.

Rather quiet in Hakodate. This young Goshawk was in Ono yesterday.

Not much passing through except large numbers of Skylark.

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Only the second one in 2013.............

A Red Fox at mosquito infested Onuma this afternoon.

Most of the day was spent at Yakumo where I got only my second lifer of the year.

A heavy crop (it was well offshore) of a Long Tailed Skua. A juvenile I think. Thanks to Sean and the others at birdforum for confirming the ID.

It was harrassing a group of Common Terns offshore. Again, these are all heavy crops.

On looking at some of the shots on my PC screen I could just about see the terns dropping their fish and the skua catching it in midair.

Those shots were too blurry to post though.

It was pursuing them in a most single minded way....................

The terns didn't come much closer even when they weren't being mugged.

Oh if only my 500 f4 had arrived (still 2 more weeks to wait).

There were 5 species of gull. The first Vega of the 'winter' as well as a lone adult Black Legged Kittiwake.

I'd seen a Black Necked Grebe there last week, today there were 3 of them.

Not much else around. 2 Great Egret, a Greenshank calling on the other side of the river, a couple of Ospreys fishing offshore and a few common migrants flitting around.

On the river near my house the last week there were Siberian Stonechat, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Night Heron and Grey Wagtail. Last weekend was very quiet, on the 20th I went up to Yakumo and Oshamanbe and got Greenshank, Red Necked Stint, Dunlin, Sanderling and Eastern Marsh Harrier.

So a quiet September this year, not helped by the weather and my own lethargy (although by my own low standards I have been pretty busy with work). The wader passage was very disappointing (but perhaps I just missed them). I was pretty excited by the skua today though, maybe we're in for a good autumn this year.

I watched the Premier League games last night and laughed out loud at the 2 Manc teams losing. I haven't watched that much footy so far this season. To be honest I'm a little tired of football, if England flop out of the World Cup at the qualification stage it may permanently knock out whatever enthusiasm currently remains.

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