A Christmas Egret

A Great Egret on the river today, lost in contemplation in the snow.........

Not much else around though. the Black-crowned Night Heron was cowering under a bush. No small birds anywhere except for a few sTree Sparrows.............

An early winter Friday afternoon........

There were 2 Great Egrets on the river today................

2018 winding down...........

Freezing temperatures and a big dump of snow in town this week. Not many birds though. The above Great Egret was still on the river but not much else.

Before the snow............

One of the Great Egrets near my apartment yesterday. Not many birds about at all. A female Goosander and the usual sparrows and crows................

It has turned cold finally and snow flurries were in the air today. Snow  and freezing temperatures are forecast this weekend. Hopefully the birds will start moving............

An afternoon Egret

A Great Egret on the river near my apartment yesterday afternoon. There are several at this time of year..............

I can remember being excited by seeing egrets of any kind. The first one I  ever saw was this species: in California in 1981. My first in the UK was a Little Egret in 1987. I've seen loads around the world since then of course (and this species seems well established in the UK now) but they still seem exotic to me even now.

Not much else around. A lone female Goosander and 7 Black Kite. the latter is a very common bird in Japan but over the last few years they seem to have become much scarcer in the skies above town. These birds looked like they were heading south in what must surely be the last real mild weather of the season............

Eagles in the mist...............

Up in Yakumo this morning it was very misty................

Seven

All the regular 7 winter gull species were at Kamiiso today.....................

Another day off, another typhoon..............

It was the tail-end of yet another typhoon...........

Another Osprey

Another Osprey from Monday..........

Spring underway

Spring was well underway on Sunday..................

Pit Stops

The local fields had some visitors taking a short rest...............

Another lone Egret

Yesterday we went to a park in the east of town. Usually the park is full of birds at this time of year but it was very quiet this time. Maybe they'd all gone south (or perished) because of the nasty winter?

A Great Egret was there but not much else. A flock of 30 or so Common Crossbill was in the treetops for a few minutes before disappearing. a skein of White-fronted Geese flew overhead and I heard a lone Grey-headed Woodpecker.

A lone Egret

Nice weather in Hakodate the last few days.................

A bit of spring in the air..........

A hint of spring at last...............

A quiet Monday in mid March

Monday was a bit quiet...............

Slow eagle season?

We were in Yakumo yesterday...............

Another slow weekend

The wintry weather is unrelenting this December...............

A snowy week

Not much in town this last week. A lot of snow fell on Tuesday but a big influx of birds never happened.

There were 3 Great Egrets on the river as well as Brown Dipper, a female Daurian Redstart and several Dusky Thrush. No Waxwings in town at all yet despite the berry laden trees everywhere.

Some Monday sunshine...........

It was sunny this morning and we headed north............

A quiet start to December

It's been snowing a lot the last 2 days but there was a break this afternoon. No car today so I took a short walk down the river where I saw the above Great Egret.

I was hoping for some Waxwings but nothing doing there. Other stuff around included a few Dusky Thrush, a male Daurian Redstart, a lone Wren, a drake Goosander and a female Wigeon....................