Hole #4

A Ural Owl at Onuma this afternoon, the 4th different Owl hole since I started birding in Onuma. Shane it was obscured by twigs but I didn't want to walk any closer...............

Autumn returns

A female Black Woodpecker at Onuma this afternoon. It was very mild today, all the snow has melted in Hakodate and Onuma.

A quiet start to November

A very quiet Sunday afternooon with only common birds like the above Scaup and Nuthatch. That little rush of rarities and semi rarities seems to have come to an abrupt halt.

My initial impressionss after one week with my new lens: it's really really heavy.

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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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Things happening.........................

A very springlike day and one of my best days birding for ages...................

We started off at Onuma, not much around in the morning except this Intermediate Egret...............

This isn't so common in Hokkaido and as you can see it is in its breeding plumage, it was in a pond where I usually see Great Egret or Grey Heron. There were also some Mandarin Duck about as well as lots of Dusky Thrush everywhere. Jaapnese Thrush, Black Faced Bunting and Jaapnese Bush Warbler were singing in the forest but it was a little overcast and chilly so we headed up to Yakumo.

There were 4 Bar Tailed Godwit in the river (one in summer plumage) and several Osprey hunting..............

A group of about 10 Great Egret were there too...........

On the north side of the river was this lone Marsh Sandpiper, I couldn't get close enough for a decent shot.

No other waders around except this trio............

Common Redshank. I would barely raise my camera to my eye for them in England (at this distance anyway) but this is only the 2nd time I've seen them in Japan and the first time I've photographed them. They flew off noisily just like they do back home...........

Other stuff at Yakumo included Eastern Marsh Harrier, Whooper Swan, Glaucous Gull, various species of duck including Shoveler, Wryneck and lots of Siberian Stonechat.

Further north at Oshamanbe I found a tame flock of Dunlin in one of the ports. Many were coming into summer plumage................

Also at Oshamanbe were several groups of displaying White Winged Scoter (well offshore) and Glaucous Winged Gull.

We stopped back at Onuma on the way home. There were some noisy and active Black and Grey-headed Woodpeckers but they didn't come close enough for any pictures.

The tame tits and nuthatches did of course.

The day finished at Kamiiso with another Osprey.............

And yesterday's Black Winged Stilt was still present.

A long long day but worth it. Late April to late May is the best time of the year for birds here and it really felt like it kicked off today...............

So the footy season is fizzling out, maybe the last day of the season will have all 20 clubs with nothing to play for. Liverpool and England are slipping into medicrity, thank god for Game Of Thrones and the upcoming Ashes.
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Crappy April weather

A Dusky Thrush near my flat this afternoon.

Not much to report except the weather the last couple of days has been just awful. Wet and windy, the rivers are full with rain and snowmelt.

I did see tmy first Mandarin Duck of the year yesterday at Onuma. Lots of common stuff about but it was too dark for any photographs. The tame Nuthatches had to endure my flash.

I saw the first Swallows of the year and a flock of 20 or so Crossbill in the sky over Ono as well as a couple of unidentified grey geese heading north.

Just this lone Dusky Thrush in Hakodate though..............

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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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The first hints of spring.............

Part of a flock of Dunlin at Oshamanbe today.

It wasn't so cold today and there are patches of ground appearing with no snow. Spring is coming. I guess this was our first 'summer' visitor.

One of several Skylarks seen today. A very very common bird in Hokkaido but generally absent in winter, these must have been returnees from further south in Japan.

The day began in Yakumo. There were still a few eagles around. 1 immature Stellers and 2 White Taileds, there were also several White Taileds at other locations on the way. A lone Lapwing was a local scarcity but the snow at the river mouth was still a little too deep to allow a full exploration so we headed up to Oshamanbe. I was hoping the Long Tailed Ducks would still be around. They were, 6 of them, but they stayed out of range the whole time. This was the best I could muster.

Other stuff in and near the port included Black Necked and Great Crested Grebe, Scaup, Teal, Goldeneye and lots of Black Scoter.

In the corner was a small flock of 40 or so Dunlin.

These are not so common in south Hokkaido but are pretty much the only sandpiper species around in winter.

There were lots of Glaucous Gulls around today..................

The only Glaucous Gull I saw in the UK was a big brute in Fleetwood back in the 1980's. The ones in NE Asia don't seem especially big or aggressive. The alpha gull is definitely the Glaucous Winged Gull..............

We ended up in Onuma, I spent asn hour or more at the end of the day hoping the nosiy Black Woodpeckers would come close but they didn't. The Nuthatches did of course...............

It's going to rain tomorrow and the temperature will stay above freezing even at night.................bye bye winter.

Bye bye Liverpool's chances of sneaking into the top 4 (though it was always a long shot).

Bye bye any chance of a title race after Man City's pathetic performance yesterday.


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