The lull begins........

A Bull-headed Shrike fledgeling near my apartment yesterday..............

Summer Staples

A Bullheaded Shrike near my apartment earlier this week. The last migrant passing through has been and gone (a singing Arctic Warbler on June 6/7), now in the neighbourhood all that is left are the summer staples.

One or two pairs of Bullheaded Shrike breed along the river, they were busy hunting this week. 3 years ago I saw one catch and kill a Tree Sparrow, no similar action this week, just them sitting around being watchful.

This adult Black Crowned Night Heron was the first one I've seen on the local river this year.

I didn't see any last summer, they must have bred further upstream, hopefully they'll breed nearer like they did the previous years.

The Red Cheeked Starlings will fledge in the next week or so, there is always a huge feeding frenzy and the adults suddenly become very tame for a short time. They were still pretty wary today though.

There are always 10 or so singing Oriental Reed Warblers singing atop the bushes next to the river. Last summer a male sang in a very convenient bush next to the path, the grass wasn't cut last June so the weeds hid it from public view. This year all I can get are distant heavily cropped record shots.

Other species around are Asian House Martin, Swallow, Oriental Turtle Dove, Kingfisher, Tree Sparrow, Brown Eared Bulbul and lots and lots of Oriental Greenfinch.

Numerous pairs of White Wagtail breed along the river too..........

This is one of several species already with fledged young. Spot Billed Duck and Carrion Crow babies were present today too. The larger more aggressive Large Billed Crow tends to breed later and can be very protective if you go too close to their nest, i've been buzzed several times in recent years.

And to finish with here's a rather cute baby Great Tit.

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End of Golden Week

A male Blue and White Flycatcher on the river near my apartment yesterday. That branch is a tad annoying..............

Golden week (the major spring holiday week in Japan) has just finished, it is always great for birding as it co-incides with the arrival of lots of migrants from the south............

Yesterday was particularly good, in addition to the flycatcher there was a male Siberian Rubythroat, several Red Flanked Bluetails, a female Japanese Thrush, several Eastern Crowned Warblers and a flock of Russet Sparrows.

This is a common summer visitor to Onuma but I very rarely see them in Hakodate. Surprise of the day was another small flock of Japanese Waxwing. they look a bit odd with no snow or red berries anywhere.

Commoner migrants included Japanese Bush Warbler and several groups of Japanese White-eye.

Shame I couldn't get them in the cherry blossoms............

Lots of Red Cheeked Starlings around now. These are one of the summer staples, unlike the above birds they aren't just passing through town, they'll be here all summer.

And here's an Oriental Greenfinch, a very common local bird but I think this is the first halfway decent shot I've managed of one............

Very nice light yesterday as you can see. Today was hazier (and now, this evening, it's p***ing down with rain). Not many migrants present this morning, a few Dusky Thrush and Hawfinch remain and I saw my first Oriental Reed Warbler of the year.

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A quiet start to February

A male Grey Headed Woodpecker in Goryokaku Park this afternoon. Note the sky colour, this must be the first sunshine I've experienced in Hakodate in 2011. Several degrees above freezing too and we have a temporary thaw.........

A bit of a quiet week, the last couple of days saw a selection of common winter species including this Great Egret on the river.........

6 species of duck on the river, Little Grebe were around as well as the usual common smaller birds: Daurian Redstart, White Wagtail, Wren, Coal and Great Tit, Long Tailed Rosefinch, Black Faced Bunting, Hawfinch and these two: Dusky Thrush and Oriental Greenfinch.

On Tuesday I headed over to Kamiiso. 13 species of wildfowl here, nothing special though. The Kentish Plover was still on the beach too.

There were absolutely loads of Black Kite............

The most interesting bird in the harbour was a lone Great Crested Grebe, a not so common winter visitor here that usually stays well offshore so not a species I often get to photograph.

In 3 or 4 weeks the Black Necked and Red Necked Grebes should be hitting the same harbour (well they did last year anyway).

Don't know what to make of all the comings and goings at Liverpool. Torres hasn't been interested for ages so I wasn't so bothered about him leaving but 35 million for Carroll?!?!

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Asian House Martin

An Asian House Martin collecting nestbuilding materials on the river near my apartment yesterday.

I took this handheld video. Click on 'vimeo' for the HD version.

Housebuilding of another kind is currently driving me nuts, the construction noise outside my living room window as I type is deafening.

Some birds have already bred, baby ducks and crows are all over the place and a family of Oriental Greenfinches landed near the martins.

I've seen an adult Night Heron the last couple of days, hopefully there will be some young ones to photograph soon. Lots of Red Cheeked Starling activity in the centre of the bushes, again hopefully the young will be out and about on a few days too.

The Oriental Reed Warblers are still singing their hearts out.

I did manage to catch this one in a slightly different pose..............

So only one day to go until the World Cup begins...............the torture of watching England is just over 48 hours away..........

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House-building, hay fever........and a rarity.

The weather was pretty hot again today and I spent some time with some Asian House Martins who were gathering nesting materials on a muddy patch on the small river near my flat. Tricky things to get the exposure right on.......









House-building of another kind continues next to our apartment. The noise is driving me crazy as is my hay fever, not something I usually suffer from this last few days but I've been spluttering and sneezing like a coke fiend.

Lots of nestling activity in the neighborhood and several other species came down to take a drink from the river........like these Oriental Greenfinch, Red Cheeked Starling and Tree Sparrow.







I was hoping to get a shot of a young Night Heron but nothing happening there, I saw them several times in early July last year but can't locate them this time.

In my last post I mentioned a Tern I'd seen last weekend in Yakumo. I assumed it was just the East Asian race of Common Tern (which has a black bill) but when I actually looked at my crappy record shots it became clear it was something else. It isn't grey underneath, the tail streamers are not so long and that bill looks chunky.





It's a Gull Billed Tern (ハシブトアジサシ in Japanese), a bit of a rarity. June is a good month for rare terns, 3 years ago I saw a Caspian Tern at Asabu but as I didn't have a camera you'll have to take my word for it.