2018 Best Of #4

Some finches and buntings from last winter................

Some Crossbills..................

There was a small flock of Crossbills in one of the local parks yesterday morning..............

On this day (March 24th).............................

March 24th 2014.

A female Crossbill in one of the local parks 4 years ago today. Part of a huge invasion that year: they were everywhere. Usually I ran into them them when I was out and about with the 100-400. This time I was able to photograph them with my 500mm lens......................

On this day (March 4th).......................

March 4th 2014.

A male Crossbill in town 4 years ago today: part of the big invasion that year..............

On this day (February 10th).....................

February 10th 2014.

A male Crossbill in town 4 years ago today. This was the start of a huge invasion that year.............

On this day (December 24th)...............

December 24th 2013.

A female Crossbill in the local park 4 years ago today. It was part of a small flock. I don't usually see this species until late winter so it was a bit of a surprise to see them so early...........

Some Crossbills in the rain........

It seems to have been raining every Monday for ages....................

On this day (March 4th).....................

March 4th 2014.

A male Crossbill in town 3 years ago today. There were large numbers of this species in March of that year and they already scavenging pinecones on the ground, presumably having eaten most of the ones still on the trees. It allowed for a few nice low angle shooting opportunities........................

On this day (February 10th)............

February 10th 2014.

A male Common Crossbill in Hakodate 3 years ago today. There was a big invasion of this species in late winter/early spring that year: they were everywhere in town.

I see them pretty much every year but I've only witnessed 2 big invasions in the time I've been doing this blog: in 2009 and in 2014. I wonder what 2017 will bring?

Crossbill and sakura

A Crossbill in the cherry blossoms in the local park yesterday morning............

A rainy Sunday

A wet wet Sunday, a bit annoying after a hard week when it was sunny outside most of the time but I was stuck inside...............

Still, there were a few birds about in the rain.

Falcated Duck and Crossbill

2 interesting species in the local park today...............

On this day (March 15th).....................

March 15th 2009.

Some Common Crossbills in Hakodate 7 years ago today.......................

2015 Best of #2

Some more shots from the early part of 2015.......................

A grey rainy Monday morning

It's been pouring down for several hours as I type this.....................

Crossbills taking a morning drink

My 1000th post

Well it's taken exactly 8 years and 3 months to reach my 1000th post on this blog..................

2014 Best of #3

Some of my fave shots from late winter through to the end of spring........................

 

2014 Best of #1

Well it's been a very very quiet last 2 or 3 weeks so here are some of my fave shots from early winter 2014, all taken in SW Hokkaido............it seems like a long time ago already..............

Still still here