2018 Best Of #9

A final batch of photos from the last year.................

Another Black Woodpecker post............

On Sunday we were in Onuma again................

All Five

All 5 local Woodpecker species were present in Onuma yesterday............

Some November Woodpeckers............

A female Black Woodpecker at Onuma this morning.......................

2017 Best Of #4

Some more shots from earlier in the year: these are all from March and early April...............

Some spring Woodpeckers

There were a lot of woodpeckers at Onuma today................

A Black Woodpecker

A female Black Woodpecker in Onuma yesterday................

One of five

A male Black Woodpecker at Onuma this morning, one of 5 woodpecker species that were around on a pleasant spring day.

Also around were big flocks of Goosander, a pair of Smew, Whooper Swan, Shoveler, Little Grebe, Brambling, Siskin and lots of Mandarin Duck as well as the usual resident tits and nuthatches.

I made the mistake of staying up to watch the 20/20 final all the way through. Well the first 39 overs were pretty tense at least..................Ben Stokes oh deary me.

At work a busy 2 or 3 weeks beckon, don't know if I'll get out so much. Luckily I'll have some free time when the migration season kicks in.

Black Woodpecker

A male Black Woodpecker to the east of Onuma this afternoon.

It was right next to the road but difficult to photograph as it was in the shade and/or behind twigs. The female was also nearby. They were househunting...............it must be spring.

The coast was pretty birdless except for a few common species in the harbours. At Onuma there were White Tailed Eagle and Smew but both too far off for any pictures.

2015 Best of #4

A last batch of shots from the past year..............

A grey hungry Monday

A grey early winter day saw us pop out for a couple of hours.............

Mellow autumnal Owl

Beautiful autumn weather at Onuma today..............

Not really happening

On Monday afternoon we were in Onuma and Sawara................

A quiet Sunday in Onuma............

A pair of Black Woodpeckers in Onuma this afternoon..................

2015 begins........................

A quiet Monday in January

Autumn returns

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

Another Christmas in Hokkaido #3

A male Black Woodpecker at Onuma a couple of days ago. It was just before the sun went down, it is always dark or getting dark when I see them..........

The Ural Owl was in the same place..........

The lake is frozen now....only a few tiny patches of open water remain for the wintering wildfpwl......

Whooper Swan and Mallard mainly but there was the lone Pintail........

The tame tits and nuthatches were around too.

Christmas Day was cold and nasty and today (the 26th) is even worse.........I hope the weather relents by the weekend and I can get out and about.

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Mugged

We spent a long day in Onuma today, it was the first warm day of the year. Not many summer visitors yet but they are arriving every day, Eastern Crowned Warbler and Russet Sparrow made their first appearances of 2012 and there were lots of Japanese Thrush singing. All the common stuff was around including this female Black Woodpecker.

I really wanted to get photos of 2 species this spring: Mandarin Duck and Japanese Grosbeak. They are both so wary I may have to rethink my strategy, I even looked online at portable blinds.............maybe next year.

The tame Nuthtaches stalked me through the forest begging for food, they practically mugged me. At least I could get some different poses in different locations.

In Kamiiso this morning I saw the first Red Cheeked Starlings of the year as well as the first Wryneck, not much else around though. The last week in Hakodate was pretty quiet although yesterday a flock of Bewicks Swan was wheeling over the neighbourhood on their way north.

The felling of the trees last winter along the river means not many places for migrants to rest, all I could find this week were lots of Japanese Bush Warbler. A small copse remains in a private Go-Karting track and there were 2 Red Flanked Bluetails there, very hard to get a photo of (plus I looked like a pedophile shooting over the fence with my biggish white lens). This female was the best I could manage.

A big holiday week starts tomorrow, I have a few days day off coming up from Sunday so hopefully the migrants will continue arriving.

I didn't watch the Barcelona/Chelsea game but I'll probably get up to watch the Manc derby...................I haven't even thought about Euro 2012, I can't remember being so indifferent about an international tournament before...................so maybe England will surprise me.

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Spring slowly unrolling #3

A male Black Woodpecker at Onuma this afternoon. 4 species of woodpecker, 6 species of tits and the Nuthatches were all very active today. Other stuff in the forest included Brambling, Dusky Thrush, Japanese Thrush, Japanese Grosbeak and lots of Black Faced Bunting and Japanese Bush Warbler................the latter is a dull skulking bird but it is easy to see at this time of year.

The lake is largely ice free now so the waterbirds have dispersed. I saw lots of Mandarin Duck but that species is very shy here and impossible to approach closely. Grey Heron, Little Grebe, Coot, Goosander, Whooper Swan and Great Egret were around.............

Not much in Hakodate this last week, the Brent Geese were still around earlier in the week........

A Woodcock near my apartment was the most interesting bird in town and offshore at Cape Tachimachi a few days ago I saw several Black Throated Diver, a Rhinoceros Auklet and lots of Red Necked Grebe. A female Merlin flew across the highway in Ono on the way home today too.

Not a great last few weeks for my teaching business, we all have slumps but this was one has been a little severe as the wife is now between jobs. Why am I 43 years old and skint all the time?

To top it all there appears to be something wrong with my 100-400L lens...........the tension ring doesn't lock and there is quite a bit of dust in the lens too. I'd hoped to buy a new lens this spring but lack of money has put paid to that. I can still use the 100-400 of course but I'm debating whether to send it off to be fixed or not.

Actually I've been a bit frustrated with my photos recently. They seem to be lacking something, sharpness or 'pop' I dunno.

Today's Black Woodpecker was certainly frustrating. A tame male but unfortunately the light was terrible meaning highish ISO, the AF also had trouble locking on to an all black bird in the gloomy lighting.

So spring moves on, the birds are changing, hopefully some waders will start passing through soon. I saw a Common Sandpiper in the park yesterday. I checked the beach at Kamiiso this morning but nothing happening there, next week should be better I think.

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