2018 late Summer trip #2

Although we stayed in Oshamanbe waders were pretty thin on the ground compared to Yakumo...............

End of wader season...........

The wader season for 2017 seems to have come to an end in SW Hokkaido................

The heat returns..........

A Red Necked Stint at Kamiiso yesterday, still showing some of its breeding plumage.

The waders have returned.

And so has the heat: very hot and humid, 32 outside and no escape to aircon here in Hokkaido either.

There were 5 stints on the beach.

The beach was filthy, the remains of dozens of barbecues from the holidays last week.

The stints were not exactly shy but they were a tad skittish.

The only other wader around was an even shyer Eastern Curlew. No shots of that worth posting.

God it was hot. And today is even hotter............

On Sunday we were in Sawara and Shikabe. The coast was foggy which meant the temperature was more bearable........but the light was crappy for the Japanese Green Pigeons.

There were  a few waders around. 2 Terek Sandpiper, 2 Red Necked Stint and this Greenshank.........

When Prior and Swann were in I thought we could do it.

Liverpool? Well what a great start to the season that was.


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A windy Sunday

An Osprey struggling in the wind at Kikonai this morning. There was a very strong (and cold) easterly wind (not so good for migrants though this side of Eurasia).

The first passage waders have appeared liker this Greenshank.

I also disturbed a Snipe species but couldn't ID it. The common breeding waders, Little Ringed Plover and Common Sandpiper, had already arrived. Here's one of the latter.

Still lots of Brent Geese, Wigeon, Pintail and Red Breasted Merganser offshore but the sea was too rough to check properly. A Glaucous Gull was at Kamiiso but not much else. Ospreys were everywhere again and the ones at Kikonai were the easiest to photograph.

We started off at Onuma but it was cold and windy here too............and foggy. The 4 species of woodpecker were all very active again, here's a male Japanese Pygmy.

 Other stuff at Onuma included Japanese Grosbeak, Whooper Swan, Goosander, Treecreeper and Goldcrest. Brown Thrush and Lathams Snipe were new arrivals, the tame tits and nuthatches were still begging for food.

May is generally the best birding month in Hakodate, hopefully I'll have a few new birds to see and photograph next week.........

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More Waders #3

A Greenshank on the beach at Kamiiso this morning. It was uncomfortably hot again today, I got heat rash and sunburn and gave up around midday..............it's now late evening and there is a spectacular thunderstorm going on outside.

The Greenshank was the most interesting species, I don't see them so often in Hakodate (they're common elsewhere near here, especially Yakumo).

I was mostly shooting into the sun so not a vintage day for pictures.

There was a group of 3 Ruddy Turnstones pecking around some weird green thing on the beach.

The 5 Terek Sandpiper were still around and still very shy, the Red Necked Stint flock fell from 21 yesterday to only 11 today. Lots of Night Herons and also the inevitable Ospreys........

So that should be about that for August, I can't recall a hotter month in the 10 summers I've been in Hokkaido. Although the storm has cooled things down a bit the forecast still says around 30 degrees tomorrow...................roll on autumn.

Still, this hot as hell weather means I feel less guilty cracking open a cold beer in the evening. In fact I think I'll go the fridge right now.

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Wader Season #2

One of several groups of Red Necked Stints up at Oshamanbe this afternoon.







I couldn't get so close to them, the darn things kept flying away.........



Here is a pic of the maestro at work.........



Other species of wader on the same bit of beach included these 2 species: Mongolian Plover and Grey Tailed Tattler.









I get a lifer today, Long Toed Stint. A group of 3. Here's a record shot.



And here's another record shot of a Greenshank (?) at Kamiso a couple of days ago. This was a local tick that I misidentified as a Marsh Sandpiper at first..............



Bizarre find of the day was this. Some kind of weasel in a railway waiting room (this shot was through the dirty window).



I assume it is a wild creature, it disappeared pretty sharpish when I opened the door.......

I'm watching the cricket, god it's tense stuff. Those 2 run-outs have helped me relax a bit but I'm still a nervous wreck. C'mon England just finish it.