In the bleak midwinter..............

I can't believe how much snow has fallen this winter..............

Fallback Camera

The other afternoon I left the 100-400 lens in the car and my wife drove away for the day......................

Some visible migration.............

Flocks of Brown-eared Bulbul heading south across the Tsugaru Straits at the weekend................

The annual lull.........

Well it's that time of year again. Mid July heralds a month or so of very quiet birding, most of the summer stuff has stopped singing and now I'm just waiting for the waders to start passing through in mid August.

The 2 staples at this time of year are the fishing Ospreys at various locales and the Japanese Green Pigeons at Shikabe. I had no luck with the Osprey pics last Wednesday at Yakumo (despite there being four of them fishing at the rivermouth) and headed out to Shikabe this afternoon on a dark grey afternoon more in hope than expectation. Recently every time I've been there have been fishermen standing on the rocks where they come down to drink but today I had the beach all to myself........

The light was terrible and I couldn't get that close to them but I managed to get a few shots of what is one of my favourite local species.

It was a bit dark for BIF shots.........

Not much else around here but I was surprised when 2 Grey Tailed Tattlers flew overhead heading north.............what's their story? Pretty late to be heading north to breed........

At Onuma earlier I spent a couple of hours getting bitten by mosquitoes.

If the above pigeons seem exotic to UK birders the Little Grebes and Moorhens at Onuma are reassuringly familiar. The latter is much scarcer (and shyer) than it is in the UK.

Nothing much in Hakodate the last few days, just common stuff like this Brown Eared Bulbul.

No sport on TV or the internet this weekend...........thank god for beer.

Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

So this is March

A Red Breasted Merganser and some Scaup on the sea this morning. I walked/waded through the slush down to the nearest fishing port, not much around. In addition to the above there were Great Crested Grebe, Goldeneye and Wigeon. I could have walked down to Irifune to check out the Brent Geese and Harlequins but couldn't face the inevitable trudge through the deep snow, they'll still be around in a week or 2 when hopefully the thaw will have set in.

There were also 2 or 3 Red Breasted Merganser on the river near my apartment.

I don't really know why they are hanging around so far upstream. Not much else around: Wren, several Daurian Redstart, a handful of Dusky Thrush, a single Long Tailed Rosefinch. Very quiet. No Waxwings. No Crossbills or other winter finches.

The Grey Heron and Great Egret were still around yesterday.

Here's one of the commonest local birds, a Brown Eared Bulbul. It seems to be missing a tail.

Thanks for clicking this link........


人気ブログランキングへ

A July day

Today we ended up in Yunokawa, on the eastern edge of Hakodate. The river there used to be a regular birding haunt but a lot of the habitat has been destroyed over the last few years (recently due to a huge construction project, a kind of shopping mall I think). I was expecting the worst but actually there were still lots of birds around. The riverside was heavily overgrown and held lots of birds. I'm unsure of the plans for the riverside, maybe the birds are making a final stand before the vegetation goes. Or let's be optimistic, perhaps they'll be left alone......

There were 3 or 4 Black Browed Reed Warblers singing in the long grass and reeds. Tricky to get a nice clear shot.......





Also around were Cuckoo, a lone singing Grays Grasshopper Warbler, Stonechat, Black Faced Bunting, Bull Headed Shrike and Kingfisher.





I like Black Browed Reed Warblers, they're kind of cute and cheeky. Their larger, noisier and commoner cousins aren't so endearing. Oriental Reed Warblers are abundant summer visitors (there are even 7 or 8 singing males on the small river near my flat) and they are especially common at Yunokawa. I still haven't managed a decent shot of one yet, here's the best effort from today.....




Still getting to grips with some of the new software on my new imac. Aperture or Adobe Lightroom? I'm still using DPP as a RAW converter and Photoshop as an editor but I need something to manage my library...............

Sorry that was a bit boring.

My wife has decided she wants a DSLR later on this summer. She has picked the 450D........so she's going to have a newer (and slightly better) one than me. Not to worry, when I've finished paying off this imac the 50D should be out. I'd better not mention that fact yet......

A bit sad Crouch has been sold. He's not that bad a player (and better than Kuyt and Voronin) to have on the bench. Benitez stuck by him when he had that awful lean patch after he arrived and then when he started playing OK and getting goals he started ignoring him. Benitez has signed 2 more players this summer but I've never heard of them and can't even remember where they're from. I'm losing interest to be honest. Still, at least Kewell has finally left.

A LONG day, a mistake and some winter returnees

Just after sunrise we were at Matsumae to check out the large numbers of migrating Brown Eared Bulbuls heading south for the winter. And see them we did. Loads of them.



Several Goshawk were eyeing the Bulbuls. Lots of other common small migrants were on the move. Long tailed Rosefinch and Olive Backed Pipit being two of the more interesting. Heading back to Kikonai the autumn colours were stunning.



Kokonai had some good birds. 4 Great White Egret, more Rosefinch and Rustic Bunting, my first Dusky Thrush of the season, a lone Black Legged Kittiwake and one of those dodgy Herring type Gulls with yellow legs were with the Gull flocks, the usual common Ducks and the Whooper Swans from last month were still present.



An easy photo on an otherwise poor day for my camera. Cutest bird of the day was this Hokkaido race of Long tailed Tit.





Back at Kamiso the first Brent Goose of the winter had returned. And yesterday there were Black Necked and Red Necked Grebes offshore. A crap shot of some flying Brent Goose.





We then headed out to Onuma. maybe because I'd been up so long or maybe because I'm just an idiot I got confused by a raptor en route. It was big, obviously an Eagle. Soaring over a forest, no white tail, rather dark. I thought hold on a minute....isn't that a Golden Eagle? A rarity up here (though I think I may have seen 1 last year in central Hokkaido). I took some crappy pics and posted them on birdforum's ID section. It's a first year White Tailed Eagle. Oh the shame.

By now the brilliant light and autumn colours at Onuma were fantastic-the best I've ever seen.







Not so many birds at Onuma or perhaps I was too knackered to find them. We finished off watching the sunset..........



I need a new fridge. The motor is so loud it gives me a headache. I'm 39 years old and have never bought a fridge. Always in furnished apartments or I've had old ones given to me. Expenditure on a fridge may scupper some of my more ambitious lens purchasing schemes.

Today had a 'the last warm day just before winter' feel about it. Yuki-mushi ( a kind of white midge) were everywhere (and have been for the last week) and these are a sign winter is not far away. I wonder what kind of winter we'll get this year? Last winter was very mild but the previous one was the harshest I've ever experienced. Some of the winter stuff seems to be arriving rather early this year. Hmmmmmm........

Right. 1 beer (only), a bath and off to bed. I'm f#*ked.

Cherry blossoms and back pains

I can see Hakodateyama (Mt Hkodate) from my balcony. A wide forest clad mountain that is the first landfall for many of the summer migrants to Hokkaido. And this week is the start of the best 2 weeks birding every year. And I'm been almost immobile from backache and can't go to the mountain even though I have a few days off work at the moment. I was able to gingerly go out for a short time today. The cherry blossoms were starting to open. They look nice I admit but after 7 or 8 springs in Japan I place them in the 'another overrated thing about Japan' file.



So I'm missing all those birds passing through. The river near my apartment usually has a few migrants too (in fact I've seen some pretty good birds there over the last 3 or 4 years) and today there were 2 female Red Flanked Blutails. Not a great pic but better than I'd been expecting yesterday when I could hardly move.



Some little brown birds flitting around the bushes turned out to be the 2 commonest migrants, Black Faced Bunting and Japanese Bush Warbler. No more interesting Warblers or Flycatchers unfortunately. A singing Japnese White-eye was the most notable species of the afternoon (I don't see them in town much although they're abundant on the mountain).



Other stuff around included Dusky Thrush, Barn Swallow and more Red Cheeked Starling and Bull Headed Shrike. I at least got a shot of a male Starling. Shame it isn't a very good one though.



It looks like they have a solid relationship. The local pair of Bull Headed Shrike were also out taking the air. They like perching atop bushes in photogenic poses. They also like flying off just as I get within range.



Here are some shots of the commoner stuff.









A Common Teal, a Black Backed Wagtail and a Brown Eared Bulbul.