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

May 15th 2014.

An immature Hooded Crane near Oshamanbe 3 years ago today.

This was a nice find but was not such a big surprise: we'd seen one the previous autumn in Yakumo and presumably this was the same individual. It occurs in large flocks in the deep south of Japan but in Hokkaido it is a bit of a rarity...............

On this day (October 28th)..........................

October 28th 2013.

A juvenile Hooded Crane at Yakumo 2 years ago today. Another birder kindly shared this info with us and it was on the same beach where I had missed a Common Crane the year before............

I saw another young Hooded Crane, presunmably the same individual, in Oshamanbe the next spring......................

A surprise in the fog...............

A Hooded Crane near Oshamanbe this afternoon...............and I even took a short video of it.

Hooded Crane

A juvenile Hooded Crane at yakumo this afternoon.

A very friendly local birder (who we often see in Yakumo) had crossed our path earlier in the day and then very kindly chased after us to tell us of this Hokkaido rarity and then showed us exactly where it was. Thank you again.....................