On this day (March 3rd).............................

March 3rd 2014.

The Gyrfalcon at Sawara 4 years ago today. It may look bright and warm, cosy even.  but it was absolutely freezing with the wind coming off the sea................

Incidentally there is some evidence that this bird may not have been quite what it seemed. I was always surprised a) how tame it was b) its odd colouring and c) its damaged tail feathers. After seeing a picture on the internet about hybrid falcons and seeing how similar they were to this bird I voiced my concerns in a couple of places including here. There are some strong arguments made against it being a wild Gyrfalcon (mainly about the aforementioned tail and also the bird's moulting details) but....................see below.

It was suggested it may have been a hybrid Gyrfalcon/Saker falcon that had escaped from a falconer. I've tried emailing the Japanese Falconry Association for their opinion but got no reply. I did however contact a falconry group on facebook and encouragingly none of them thought it was a hybrid including several folk who keep/breed hybrids themselves. It was also put forward that the tail could have been damaged naturally due to its hunting style (the wings are undamaged) and its choice of habitat. Also such falcons are very valuable and are always ringed which this bird clearly isn't.

The colouring may indicate it is a rare genetic mutation that very occasionally occurs naturally. If it was a captive bird apparently it would be very valuable due to the colour. One Japanese falconer said that Gyrs are rarely kept in Japan because they are very vulnerable to disease because of the hot humid summers, Some of the falconers are kindly making further enquiries anyway ......................

Another one visited the same place a couple of years later (but only for a short time and I couldn't see it).............

A lot of Japanese birders saw and photographed it, including the author of a famous Japanese fieldguide. It was in numerous magazines.

I thought about unticking it but I haven't yet. Maybe we'll never know its true origin.

On this day (January 3rd)...............

January 3rd 2014.

The Sawara Gyrfalcon 4 years ago today.............very tamely sat atop a post in a raging blizzard..............

On this day (April 13th).................

April 13th 2014.

Not a great photo but this was the last day I ever saw the Gyrfalcon in Sawara that year...............and disappointingly it never came back in subsequent winters.

If it survived into adulthood I hope it's pure white and tearing it up on the tundra somewhere far to the north of Japan...................

On this day (February19th)...................

February 10th 2014.

The Sawara Gyrfalcon 3 years ago today. It was posing nicely on some driftwood.

Although it looks like a nice day it was absolutely freezing and there was a bitterly cold north wind blowing in off the sea. The windchill was brutal. I was only out of the car about 20 or 30 minutes but I'd stupidly forgotten my gloves. My hands were exposed all the time as I was holding the camera up.

When I got back to the car and my hands warmed up again I was surprised to be in intense pain for the next 2 or 3 minutes as the blood returned to my fingertips..............the initial stages of frostbite I guess.

On this day (January 20th)......................

January 20th 2014.

The overwintering Gyrfalcon at Sawara 3 years ago today.

It put on a real show this day and was very very tame as it snacked on fish scraps pilfered from the local Black Kites.............

Here's a video from that day............

On this day (February 11th)...................

February 11th 2014.

The overwintering Gyrfalcon from 2013/14 2 years ago today.

In the morning that day (as you can see) the light was fantastic but it didn't do anything. On the afternoon when the light had become very poor ir sudenly became very active.................

A real shame it looks like the individual that appeared this year in the same place only stayed very briefly and AFAIK only one person was lucky enought to see it. Still, it may return, you never know.

At least I saw this one 2 years ago.What a bird.

On this day (January 13th)...................

January 13th 2014.

The young Gyrfalcon at Sawara 2 years ago today. It was quite a fixture in the winter of 2013/14.

Everyone was hoping it would return the following winter in full adult white but sadly it never showed in winter 2014/15. There was a precedent for such hope: in the predigital age (the late 90's/early 00's) a pair came back faithfully for about 10 years. This was the first one since.....................

Actually there was a flurry of exceitement in December when a non birder photographed an adult white morph Gyrfalcon fighting with a Goshawk over disputed prey in a snow covered field. This was quite a way to the north and east of where we are but the hope was it was our bird on its way south and returning to Sawara as an adult in all its snowy white glory.

Of course nothing came, as we all knew would be the case..............but what is life without some kind of hope, even if we know it's futile? That's why we watch England in the World Cup after all.

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..............

It came back............

Everyone had thought it had gone.

But they were mistaken..................

Just me and it.................

I had a brief look at Sawara on Monday morning.........................

Still there....................

The Gyrfalcon was still there. I hadn't seen it since early March and had been back 2 times unsuccessfully. I was surprised to read on other blogs it was still around...........

We had just missed it consuming an unfortunate immature gull. It was just sat around in the grass.....................

It was a cold windy day (it snowed quite a lot later) and I don't blame it for hunkering down out of the wind.....................

Back down south

A break from my East Hokkaido posts...............

The Gyrflacon was still at Sawara yesterday...........

It has been fairly mild since we got back but the strong wind at Sawara yesterday made it brutally cold (especially as I wasn't well wrapped up).

After some very long posts recently I've started inserting these 'jump breaks'..............so please click if you want to see more pictures and read my pearls of wisdom.

Gyr and painful fingers............

Surprisingly my relatives expressed interest in seeing the Gyrfalcon and we spent an hour in Sawara. The Gyrfalcon was very obliging, sitting on various pieces of driftwood on the beach striking nice poses.

Some Gyr BIFs, BOTs and BOPs

The Gyrfalcon in flight, on a post and on a tetrapod.

Scratched pine

A Gyrflacon and a male Pine Bunting at Swara this afternoon.

I had a free afternoon and in glorious light we headed out to Sawara.

Sunday blizzards

Nasty weather hit Hsouth Hokkaido last night. Sleet and blizzards, and temperatures just high enough to turn the snow into slush.

Dinner on the beach...............and some Pine Buntings.

Some more photos from Monday, this time a little later in the day.

Lunch on the beach

A surprisingly mild day saw us back at the Gyrfalcomn spot yet again and it put on a nice show around the middle of the day.

More of the same.

The usual early 2014 suspects. Stellers Sea Eagle, Ural Owl and Gyrfalcon.