Spring migration moving slowly still..........

We headed north yesterday.............

Too hot to do much

 Last week saw high temperatures in south Hokkaido..........

The lull begins........

A Bull-headed Shrike fledgeling near my apartment yesterday..............

A couple of common summer visitors

Summer can be a slightly quiet season birdingwise in south Hokkaido................

A few small surprises

A male Bullheaded Shrike and an immature Black Crowned Night Heron near my flat this afternoon......

Back after a break

An Oriental Reed Warbler at Kikonai this morning.

I've had a lazy last couple of weeks, to be honest for various reasons I was a little tired of birding and photography and although I visited all the regular places in the last 2 weeks with camera on hand I was very halfhearted and unmotivated..........the grey skies didn't help, no new lens materialized this spring as I'd hoped and my slowing 4 year old computer now makes photo processing a real chore...........so I just though f**k it and I enjoyed a few lie-ins and afternoon naps instead. We all go through periods of being fed up and p***ed off with the world so I won't bore you with the boring details.

This female Bullheaded Shrike was at Sawara this afternoon.

We were in the area to look for Japanese Green Pigeon at Shikabe, we did see some but they weren't coming down to the rocks for a drink. This individual was in the forest gloom at Onuma.

Onuma now belongs to the mosquitoes.

At Kikonai there were lots of Oriental Reed Warblers.

Other stuff around in the last couple of weeks included Whooper Swan at Kikonai today, a late Grey Tailed Tattler up until yesterday at Kamiiso, the first Little Cuckoo of the year at Moheji and lots of Grays Grasshopper Warbler at Shikabe, Yakumo and Oshanambe. Eastern Marsh Harrier, Osprey, Intermediate Egret, Great Egret, Night Heron, the common woodpeckers and summer migrants at Onuma, Russet Sparrow in Hakodate, Harlequin Duck plus a few other late winter ducks hither and thither, the usual grassland stuff at Oshamanbe...........

I caught England v France on Japanese TV but had to follow the Sweden game on a very intermittent online feed (what happened to these online feeds? They used to be much better quality).............I was so pessimistic about England's chances I didn't fork out for the ¥3000 or so to subscribe to the satellite channel showing all games live.

The Ukraine game isn't on regular TV (but if we finish 2nd in the group then that quarterfinal is being shown at least) so I'll be up at 4am getting frustrated at England(s inability to keep the ball and my inability to find a decent online feed...........anyway it is weird to see England not being absolutely awful in a tournament for a change, even if the stupid f**king picture freezes every 30 seconds or so.

Before it started I though we'd have 1 or maybe 2 points going into the final game needing a win to go through (and probably relying on a favour in the other game)..................so my expectations have already been exceeded. Oh and what a header by Caroll..............

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Slow time a comin'

A quiet week birdwise in Hakodate, the Red Cheeked Starlings have left the nest and were the main focus of the last few days, in a week or so there won't be much happening in Hakodate until the waders pass through in another 6 or 7 weeks time.

The Starlings were everywhere. These are all males.

This is a common summer visitor to Hokkaido but it has a very restricted range, Hokkaido is probably the only place where it is common.

There were a few fledgelings hanging around waiting to be fed.

Both males and females were on hand.

The birding is very predictable in town this time of year, I saw all the 20 or so species one would expect to find with the exception of Night Heron, hopefully a few young ones will appear on the river in July.

Here is a very scruffy Bullheaded Shrike that was hunting in the bushes along the river.

Not much else to report. Annoyingly noisy neighbours, I hope the little brat upstairs gets given some tranquilizers soon (or at least a playstation). I watched 'Fire in Babylon' which was rather interesting. Otherwise...........nothing much really.

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Summer Staples

A Bullheaded Shrike near my apartment earlier this week. The last migrant passing through has been and gone (a singing Arctic Warbler on June 6/7), now in the neighbourhood all that is left are the summer staples.

One or two pairs of Bullheaded Shrike breed along the river, they were busy hunting this week. 3 years ago I saw one catch and kill a Tree Sparrow, no similar action this week, just them sitting around being watchful.

This adult Black Crowned Night Heron was the first one I've seen on the local river this year.

I didn't see any last summer, they must have bred further upstream, hopefully they'll breed nearer like they did the previous years.

The Red Cheeked Starlings will fledge in the next week or so, there is always a huge feeding frenzy and the adults suddenly become very tame for a short time. They were still pretty wary today though.

There are always 10 or so singing Oriental Reed Warblers singing atop the bushes next to the river. Last summer a male sang in a very convenient bush next to the path, the grass wasn't cut last June so the weeds hid it from public view. This year all I can get are distant heavily cropped record shots.

Other species around are Asian House Martin, Swallow, Oriental Turtle Dove, Kingfisher, Tree Sparrow, Brown Eared Bulbul and lots and lots of Oriental Greenfinch.

Numerous pairs of White Wagtail breed along the river too..........

This is one of several species already with fledged young. Spot Billed Duck and Carrion Crow babies were present today too. The larger more aggressive Large Billed Crow tends to breed later and can be very protective if you go too close to their nest, i've been buzzed several times in recent years.

And to finish with here's a rather cute baby Great Tit.

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It's gone quiet............

An Asian Brown Flycatcher on the river near my apartment yesterday. The spring migration is beginning to fizzle out, everything is going green.

There were 2 or 3 ABFs buzzing around, a drab-looking but perky character.

Other migrants included 8 Common Sandpiper, Arctic Warbler and Eye Browed Thrush but they were skulking in the bushes, as was this bird.

A female Mugimaki Flycatcher, a scarce but regular migrant and the first one I've seen near my flat.

Soon there will just be the residents and summer breeders, liks this Bullheaded Shrike.

The first 2 weeks of May were wonderful but it's been a bit slow since then. Last Sunday we went to the ricefields at Ono where Osamu (a local birder) had found a very impressive selection of waders. All I could find were a handful of Wood Sandpiper (which flew away as soon as I noticed them) and a flock of 10 or so Pacific Golden Plover, a local tick.

Onuma was getting more leafy and buggy (I got my first mosquito bite of the year). Lots of stuff around: Narcissus Flycatcher, Black and Grey Headed Woodpecker, Japanese Thrush, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Russet Sparrow etc but no photos except this huge frog.

Looking forward to the start of the test series tomorrow, god I can't believe it's just about summer again................

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On this day (June 19th)....................

June 19th 2009.


A Bullheaded Shrike doing in a Tree Sparrow on the river near my apartment last year.


It was nice to capture such a dramatic moment, I managed to fire off half a dozen shots. A few minutes later I saw the Shrike with a the bloodied head of the Sparrow in its beak, weird to think how such a small bird can be such a killer. There are always 2 or 3 pairs of Shrike nesting in town alongside the local river, I guess they have mouths to feed and Tree Sparrow is on the menu.

Golden Week 2010 #3

A very confused male Grey Headed Woodpecker near my apartment a couple of days ago. I'm sure it thought it was behaving normally, sitting atop a grey tree calling for a mate and drumming.

The only problem was it was in downtown Hakodate.

And it was drumming on metal lamposts,. I took some jerky video (difficult handheld with a 400mm lens in a busy street).

It has gotten warmer and the cherry blossoms have finally opened, rather later than usual this year........

I didn't go far in the last few days so all my birding was on the local river. Lots of common spring arrivals like this Oriental Turtle Dove.

2 of the commonest summer visitors are Red Cheeked Starling and Bullheaded Shrike.

The Starlings are pretty wary (except when the young leave the nest in mid June when they seemingly ignore pedestrians). This is the male.

And this is the female.

The Starlings nest along the river in small colonies. The Shrikes nest there too, usually 2 or 3 pairs. These are also tricky to photograph and are as wary as the Starlings. This is the male.

I saw the first Oriental Reed Warbler of the spring today, this is another common/wary breeder along the river.

Other stuff passing through has included Pale and Japanese Thrush, Eastern Crowned and Japanese Bush Warbler, Red Flanked Bluetail and Long Tailed Rosefinch. Some of the winter birds are still hanging on: Dusky Thrush, Hawfinch and a few Teal.

I got up to watch the Spurs/City game, quite exciting stuff and I'm glad it was Spurs who finished 4th and not City.......................Ledley King for England at the World Cup? I reckon so.