2018 Best Of #8

Some waders from spring/autumn 2018...................

July begins............

July is generally the quietest month for birds in south Hokkaido.............

Slow time a comin'

The slow season is approaching. The weather forecast is awful the next week too and of course the World Cup is on (Germany-ha!)................

Some more KPs

The Kentish Plovers were still watching over their young on Monday....................

Summer begins..........

Despite the cool temperatures it is definitely summer in the birding world............

A few days away............

A Red Necked Stint jogging on the beach and a Sanderling gagging on something............

We went camping near Tomakomai for 3 nights.................

A lull

It's a busy holiday week in Japan..................

Bullfinches and slush

For the last couple of days there have been 2 small flocks of Bullfinch nibbling at the buds in the trees next to the local river. These trees are the cherry blossom trees...................I hope they leave some or the locals will be aghast come late April.

They were pretty tame.

Most of the time they were towards the top of the trees at a bad angle and against a busy background. I spent a couple of hours waiting for them to come a bit lower. Which they eventually did.

There were 6 of themm in this flock. 2 males and 4 females.

This individual was of a pinker subspecies.............

It was much milder this week................and the snow has turned into shin high slush. Very tiring to walk through. I went down to the nearest harbour but could only find a couple of Black Necked Grebe, several Black Scoter and some Scaup bobbing around on the waves. Nearer home there were Varied Tit, Long Tailed Rosefinch, Hawfinch and Nuthatch. The goosanders are still on the river and have been joined by a drake Red Breasted Merganser.

On Monday I was in Kamiiso and the harbour was empty so I waded through the snow onto the beach and found this Kentish Plover.

On the train back I saw Buzzard, White Tailed Eagle and Great Egret.

 Last Sunday we were in Esan. I saw some an interesting enough cross section of winter regulars including an adult Stellers Sea Eagle. an immature White Tailed Eagle, Peregrine, Buzzard, the usual wildfowl including Harlequin Duck and Brent Goose, Black Necked Grebe and lots of Glaucous Winged Gulls. Only one Glaucous Gull though, this one was in the harbour................

So the Bullfinches were a nice end to a rather quiet February. I'm a little tired of winter......................I hope the snow disppears soon and I can wear normal shoes again.


Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

Swinhoes Egret

A Kentish Plover on a beach near Esashi last Sunday, it seemed to be part of a family of 3. I wasn't even aware these bred on the local beaches............

It has turned hot and the temperature reached 30 for the first time this year this week. I had a cold last week and still have nerve pain in my right leg so i haven't really been motivated to do much, it's easier to just lounge around in front of a fan.

Last Sunday was the only time I did any birding since my last post and in hindsight I'm glad I made the effort. This egret at Kikonai had me excited for a minute or two. It seemed to have a yellow bill so I thought it may have been a Swinhoes Egret (a very rare bird that appears fairly regularly in Hokkaido, there was apparently one in Yakumo in May). They look similar to Little Egrets but have bigger plumes, shorter legs and a shorter thicker yellow bill.

No good photos at all recently, these are heavily cropped record shots.

But I thought this was probably just a Little Egret with a slightly paler than normal bill. Little Egrets don't breed in Hokkaido but are regular visitors (I've seen several already this year).

Still it was nice to be excited for a few minutes at least.............I've put an ID query up on birdforum with some more crappy photos which should settle it, I'm beginning to have doubts now, after Ayuwat's comment below I'm beginning to think it may not just be a Little Egret.

*UPDATE*

Well according to more knowledgeable folk than me it IS a Swinhoes Egret.

Other birds around last Sunday in Asabu, Eshashi and Kikonai included Little and Common  Cuckoo, Pacific Swift, Chestnut Eared Bunting, Black Browed and Oriental Reed Warblers,  Wryneck and lots of Ospreys everywhere. This one was near Yunokawa at the end of the day.

This one was at Kamiiso, I still haven't managed a decent diving shot.........

The first waders will be passing through in 3 or 4 weeks, until then it's just a case of biding my time in the summer humidity, at least the England v India series starts next week............

Thanks for clicking this link

Some more spring waders

Yesterday afternoon at Kamiiso saw several species of wader present on the beach. From the top: Kentish Plover, Black Tailed Godwit, Red Necked Stint and Grey Tailed Tattler.

The Godwit was presumably the same one I'd seen a couple of days earlier.

This species is somewhat scarcer than the Bar Tailed Godwit, at least here in south Hokkaido. I've seen it a few times at Yakumo but this individual was the first one in Hakodate.

It was hanging around with the Tattler. Grey Tailed Tattlers are the commonest spring wader.......

Indeed it seemed to be stalking it............

This Kentish Plover was looking pretty cute..........

It was paired up with the Red Necked Stint.

Red Necked Stints are abundant in autumn but I only ever see a few in spring. They look much better at this time of year............

Other waders around included 1 Whimbrel, 2 Turnstone and a Greenshank. Not exactly Mai Po but still nice to see..............

Let's hope Chelsea make the end of the season a little more interesting for the neutrals, a big gaffe by Howard Webb leading to a controversial last minute goal would be very nice indeed.

Thanks for clicking this link.............