A Eurasian Treecreeper in Onuma yesterday.................
Showing posts with label Goldcrest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goldcrest. Show all posts
6 November 2018
18 October 2018
6 November 2017
7 May 2017
18 March 2017
2 February 2017
25 December 2014
13 November 2013
A scarce visitor in the snow.................
Not a very good shot but this is a Red-breasted Flycatcher, a bit of a scarce visitor to Hokkaido. This is the second time I've seen this bird (or third.....I also got a Taiga Flycatcher which may or may not be a subspecies and anyway I can't really tell them apart in this plumage). Each time has been in mid to late autumn, long after all the other flycatchers have gone.
It was in a park in the east of town and difficult to keep track of. I also only had limited time and had to go home without any nice shots, just record shots.
As you can see there is a bit of snow, in fact yesterday was very wintry with about 10cm of snow on the car in the morning and frozen icy roads too.
Other common stuff in the park included Rustic and Black Faced Bunting, Siskin, Nuthatch, 4 species of tit, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Wren and Goldcrest. This was taken when I was waiting in vain for the flycatcher to appear again..............
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25 April 2013
Green on green.
I had a spare hour this afternoon so i took a short walk down the river to see if any migrants were passing through. Red Flanked Bluetail, Daurian Redstart, Coal Tit, Black Faced Bunting and Japanese Thrush were all around as well as various unidentified stuff only momentarily glimpsed.
Most of the trees along the river have been felled the last few years but the remaining trees are turning green and there were small groups of Goldcrest and Japanese White-eye feeding in the emerging foliage.
The goldcrests were as tricky as ever..............
The Whuite-eyes are slightly bigger and slightly less active but they too were a tad tricky...............
It has been a busy week workwise. Last Sunday was very quiet at Onuma, not many migrants there yet but lots of woodpeckers. All4 of the regular species were around, here's a Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker.
So we're approaching the best birding period of the year...............from the end of April to about the third week in May. My workload has increased dramatically recently (a good thing as being poor is never nice) which means my birding time may be restricted to short jaunts like today................
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20 April 2013
Goldcrest
A Goldcrest in a small pine tree next to the river this afternoon. I had a short break in the middle of the day and went out to check if the Hoopoe was still around from yesterday. It wasn't but as I was watching a female Red Flanked Bluetail in a tiny vegetable garden I noticed this lone Goldcrest just a few feet away.
The smallest bird in the UK is also the smallest bird in Japan......................
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15 April 2010
On this day (April 15th)....................
April 15th 2008.
A Goldcrest feeding in some trees near my flat. A common winter visitor and passage migrant in Hakodate, this is one of many species that is the same as back in the UK. Tricky little blighters to get a photo of mind you.
16 April 2008
Back to normality
It took a while but I think I've recovered from that long journey home, it took about 4 whole days to manage that..........must be getting old.
It's been pretty warm this week and I've done a bit of halfhearted birding/photographing in Hakodate and Onuma. Ths Goldcrest was 1 of 2 in the trees near my flat yesterday. I was hoping for some summer migrants but the only ones around were some Asian House Martin.
They nest under a nearby bridge and most of the colony seem to have arrived already. Other stuff around has included Reed Bunting, a lone Crossbill, a few Hawfinch and Dusky Thrush, lots of Black Backed Wagtail, a couple of Bullheaded Shrike and the 2 Goldcrest which provided the best photos.
At Onuma the usual species were around but less of them and less tame and more active....
We drove there today to look for Squirrels. We didn't find any but did see the inevitable foxes and turtles as well as loads of voles(?) of some description.
The snow has all gone and spring is well underway in the forest at Onuma. Green shoots everywhere, flowers and birdsong. Another sure sign of spring is you notice all the garbage everywhere in the forest. Plastic bottles, cans, shopping bags, electrical appliances, old tyres. In winter it's buried under the snow and in summer it's hidden by the greenery. Spring and Autumn are the best seasons but unfortunately these are the times you can see the garbage.
Mt Komagadake hasn't changed since last time.
A singing Japanese Bush Warbler was a first for the year and there were a few Oriental Turtle Doves but otherwise the forest was dominated by the ressident Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, Treecreepers, Jays and paridae whilst on the lake there were just 3 Whooper Swans left as well as a few small groups of Goosander, some Grey Heron,several Little Grebe and 1 or 2 Great White Egret.
Over at Kamiso there were still a few Ducks and Gulls. Not much else. 11 species of Duck including 4 Mandarins and several Shoveler and 6 species of Gull including several Glaucous of various ages. I did flush a Snipe species but it could have been 1 of 3 or 4 kinds. the Mandarin flew off as soon as I saw them but the Gulls were more co-operative.
So it looks like Emile Heskey has handed Utd the title. I always knew Arsenal never had the bottle to finish top but I was hoping Chelsea would at least prolong a challenge into May. Doesn't matter anyway. Liverpool will win #6 in Moscow and then I can be petty and parochial pretend international football doesn't exist for a while and ignore the Euro Championships (easier to do here than in England of course) and that'll be the 2007/8 season done and dusted.
30 November 2007
A walk in the forest
One of many Goldcrests today. Difficult things to photograph.
We spent a very pleasant day in the forest at Onuma. My wife was a bit worried as a Brown Bear had been seen here a few days ago (there were a few signs up). This was the largest mammal on view today.
There were lots of birds in the forest and on the lake. This was the most interesting bird and least pleasing photo of the day.
One of a group of 3 Common Crossbills atop some kind of evergreen. These were the first ones I've seen in ages (over 3 years in fact). For 3 consecutive springs they were everywhere in Hakodate and then none at all until today.20 or 30 Whooper Swans were on the lake, 2 Great White Egrets were lakeside, there were also single Goshawks and White Tailed Eagles, huge rafts of Goosander, Long Tailed Rosefinch, Siskin, all the common woodland stuff including the usual suspects.
Common woodland stuff being Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (above), Great Spotted Woodpecker, Grey Headed Woodpecker, the 5 paridae species, Nuthatch and Treecreeper.
It was very sunny today but the lake is beginning to freeze so the ice was making strange whistling creaking noises.
If those shots look unoriginal try these 2.
At least the Goldcrests broke up the monotony a little. Here's a pic of me fondling the (borrowed) Canon 100-400. My wife prefers anonymity on this blog but she couldn't object to the sunset picture surely.
Yesterday in Hakodate was also good for birds. I saw 2 very late species (usually they're well gone by now)-Black Faced Bunting and Japanese Bush Warbler. Also around were Grey wagtail, Grey Starling, Hawfinch, Dusky Thrush, Brown Dipper amd this Common Kingfisher. I didn't have the big lens with me for these shots......
So that was November 2007. I got a nice new lens, was loaned an even better one, watched in utter horror as England f*#ked up big style, ate the nicest sushi I've had for ages, changed my fave beer brand from Sapporo back to Kirin, went to a hot spring resort and updated my ancient i-mac with an external DVD writer, USB webcam and a self procured copy of Tiger.
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