All Five

All 5 local Woodpecker species were present in Onuma yesterday............

Last shots from the pool

The last batch of shots from the pool near Shikotsuko............

Blue Monday

An aptly named Blue Rock Thrush at Esashi last Monday.................

Spring 2018 continues..........

We planned to head to the west coast today but the mountain road we usually use was blocked by a landslide..............

Some early April birds.........

I concentrated on the Nutcrackers yesterday but there were some other birds around...............

A Late Spring Trip #7

A final batch of photos from last week...........

Some spring Woodpeckers

There were a lot of woodpeckers at Onuma today................

A (very) windy Monday

Last night was as windy as I can recall since a typhoon hit Hakodate 12 years ago..............

I was hoping the strong SW wind might have blown some vagrants our way but the only really visible migants were lots of Common Gull and Dusky Thrush.

Not much posing for the camera but I did see Pale Thrush, Pacific Swift, Black Faced Bunting. Gadwall, Peregrine, Osprey, Buzzard, Siskin, Hawfinch, Long Tailed Rosefinch, Great Egret, Grey Headed Woodpecker, Mandarin Duck, Harlequin Duck, Terek Sandpiper, Red Throated Diver and common stuff like the above Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker.

At Onuma lots of big trees had been blown over, it really was windy last night.

Another Winter morning in Onuma

A Long Tailed Tit and a Eurasian Jay...............

Monday morning was spent in Onuma again..............

A grey Monday morning..............

A Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker in Hakodate this morning...............

And some squabbling gulls in Yakumo this afternoon.............

Another long day with not many birds

Still in limbo

A Grey Headed Woodpecker, a few days ago in a park in the east of Hakodate.

It was a grey grey morning, these shots were at ISO 1600, usually a no no on the 7D.

Lots of tame common birds in the parks at this time of year.

No autumn colours yet, it has been too mild and wet recently.

Out at Menagawa I spotted this bird offshore.

A Pacific Diver?

I ordered my lens on 15 September and they said it would take 'about a month to arrive'. It could/should arrive this weekend......................the wait is torture.

I hope England don't f**k up against the might of Montenegro tonight. Should I get up and put myself through yet more torture?

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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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March fizzling out...............

A Nuthtach at Onuma yesterday.

A very quiet end to March, hence all the old photos recently.

The tame tits and nuthatches priovided my only real photo opps over the last 2 weeks..............

The snow is melting............spring is here.

I did get out and about and there were a few interesting birds. The first Ospreys of the year arriving last week, several White Tailed Eagle at various locales, all 5 species of grebe, lots of common wildfowl everywhere including some displaying White Winged Scoter off Sawara this afternoon, Red Throated Diver at Kamiiso, a flock of Crossbills in a park in the east of town this morning...............

One staple of late March is Brent Goose but although I saw lots around they weren't in the usual spot at Irifune so no pics.

This Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker was in the same park as the crossbills and the Glaucous Winged Gulls were at Menagawa.

So that was March.....................let's not talk about England's World Cup prospects or I'll get annoyed.


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A morning in the park

A Coal Tit, Varied Tit and Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker in Goryokaku Park this morning. There was a mixed species flock containing the above 3 plus Great Tit and Nuthatch. Not much else although a passing Sparrowhawk flushed a few small birds including several Crossbill that quickly disappeared again.

There were also Coal tit and Nuthatches in the park near my flat.....................this shot was taken low down and my knees are still hurting.

This Great Egret was also on the river.

Yesterday I was in Kamiiso but no photos survived the cull. There were the usual common ducks and the regular wintering flock of 20 or so Whooper Swans has arrived. There were large numbers of Common Gull on the sea and 1 Great Crested Grebe and 3 Black Necked Grebe in the harbour.


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

Well it hasn't started snowing yet but it can't be far off...........................a light dusting on the hills the other morning and snow forecast for the weekend.

Lots of birds near my place this week, in Goryokaku Park there were at least half a dozen Nuthatches (a bird I don't normally see in town), Varied, Coal, Marsh and Great Tits, Great Spotted and Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (see above), the first Wren and Dusky Thrush of the season, Pochard and Tufted Duck, Coot, Little Grebe and best of all 4 Crossbill briefly seen in the tops of the pine trees .

So here is a non tame Nuthatch.

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