Summer near my apartment

I took a short walk near my flat yesterday. For various reasons I hasn't been there for over a week and the speed at which the vegetation has grown was astonishing. This happens every year, of course, but never fails to amaze me. It's the quiet season for birds though: really not much around at all. 2 or 3 Oriental Reed Warblers (slightly fewer than in previous years), a few Red-cheeked Starling, Asian House Martin, Barn Swallow................

All quiet on the western side...........

We headed west yesterday but it was pretty quiet...............

Midsummer 2017

Almost halfway through the year.....................

Fallback Camera

The other afternoon I left the 100-400 lens in the car and my wife drove away for the day......................

It's over again............

Well the spring migration season for 2017 has just about run its course..............

Just the summer residents showing now on the river near my flat.

Midsummer 2016

An Oriental Reed Warbler singing from the bushes near my apartment this afternoon. A warm midsummers day....................the quiet time is here as the local birds are now generally busy feeding young and all the action occurs deep in the bushes/greenery.

Oh England...............please don't play like that again after I get up at 4am to watch.

Travelling light

My battered old 100-400 MK1 is so full of dust and also suffering from various other ailments that it has been sent off to the Canon service centre for an insurance quote...........

The 500 f4 is too heavy and too attention drawing to carry around town. So today I walked around near my flat with the Canon PowerShot SX50 HS...........hmmmm.............

Predictable...............

Well it is that time of year again. Summer is very predictable in town, only a few species, 3 of which you see above.....................

Not much to report. It hasn't rained for a couple of weeks. Really, that's all.

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Slow time

Some of the 7 or 8 singing Oriental Reed Warblers as I walk upstream from my apartment. For such a loud noisy bird they are pretty shy and drop down into the long grass as soon as they realize they are being watched.

Slow time in Hakodate is here. Just the dozen or so local breeders in town now. Other singing species included Black Faced and Chestnut Eared Bunting and  lots of Oriental Greenfinch. Lots of Red Cheeked Starlings around too as well as the common stuff like Bullheaded Shrike, Eastern Great Tit, Asian House Martin, Tree Sparrow, Brown Eared Bulbul, Spot Billed Duck and the 2 resident species of crow and gull.

Hopefully I can get out off town at the weekend, the weather has been great this week and the ricefields, grasslands and rivers should have a few more birds at least.................

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A quiet end to May

A Goosander in Kamiiso last week. A quiet end to May after the deluge mid month. Teal, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Mallard, Sacup and Harlequin Duck were also around in very small numbers, a few Black Headed Gulls remained, the only waders were Grey Tailed tattler and a lone Terek Sandpiper.

The migrants have stopped passing through, a female Narcissus Flycatcher at the start of the week being the only thing of note. There are lots of Oriental Reed Warbler on the river at least.

A drive to Kikonai and Onuma last weekend produced nothing but common birds and nothing posing for the camera.......................my first Common Cuckoo and Japanese Green Pigeon appeared but mostly the week was as dull as an England end of season friendly.

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And then there were (almost) none...................

Well the cherry blossoms have almost disappeared and with them the last of the passage migrants. There were still a few things passing through a couple of days ago (including my first Arctic Warbler of the year, some AB Flycatchers and Crossbill) and yesterday there was a small flock of Siskin and a few Hawfinch. Today there was pretty much nothing except the local summer breeders...............

The Oriental Reed Warblers are all singing and setting up their territories along the river, Black Faced Buntings are singing too, Swallows and Asian House Martins are in the sky above, the Red Cheeked Starlings are everywhere and the Bullheaded Shrikes are hunting.........................summer is coming.

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Back after a break

An Oriental Reed Warbler at Kikonai this morning.

I've had a lazy last couple of weeks, to be honest for various reasons I was a little tired of birding and photography and although I visited all the regular places in the last 2 weeks with camera on hand I was very halfhearted and unmotivated..........the grey skies didn't help, no new lens materialized this spring as I'd hoped and my slowing 4 year old computer now makes photo processing a real chore...........so I just though f**k it and I enjoyed a few lie-ins and afternoon naps instead. We all go through periods of being fed up and p***ed off with the world so I won't bore you with the boring details.

This female Bullheaded Shrike was at Sawara this afternoon.

We were in the area to look for Japanese Green Pigeon at Shikabe, we did see some but they weren't coming down to the rocks for a drink. This individual was in the forest gloom at Onuma.

Onuma now belongs to the mosquitoes.

At Kikonai there were lots of Oriental Reed Warblers.

Other stuff around in the last couple of weeks included Whooper Swan at Kikonai today, a late Grey Tailed Tattler up until yesterday at Kamiiso, the first Little Cuckoo of the year at Moheji and lots of Grays Grasshopper Warbler at Shikabe, Yakumo and Oshanambe. Eastern Marsh Harrier, Osprey, Intermediate Egret, Great Egret, Night Heron, the common woodpeckers and summer migrants at Onuma, Russet Sparrow in Hakodate, Harlequin Duck plus a few other late winter ducks hither and thither, the usual grassland stuff at Oshamanbe...........

I caught England v France on Japanese TV but had to follow the Sweden game on a very intermittent online feed (what happened to these online feeds? They used to be much better quality).............I was so pessimistic about England's chances I didn't fork out for the ¥3000 or so to subscribe to the satellite channel showing all games live.

The Ukraine game isn't on regular TV (but if we finish 2nd in the group then that quarterfinal is being shown at least) so I'll be up at 4am getting frustrated at England(s inability to keep the ball and my inability to find a decent online feed...........anyway it is weird to see England not being absolutely awful in a tournament for a change, even if the stupid f**king picture freezes every 30 seconds or so.

Before it started I though we'd have 1 or maybe 2 points going into the final game needing a win to go through (and probably relying on a favour in the other game)..................so my expectations have already been exceeded. Oh and what a header by Caroll..............

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Errrr............................

A Black Browed Reed Warbler at Sawara this afternoon. We were in the area checking for Japanese Green Pigeon, I saw a few in the sky and heard a few in the trees but they didn't come down to the sea.

A bit of a boring week. Great weather but it just wasn't happening anywhere birdwise.

I don't think I've ever seen as many Skylarks as I did today.

The Harlequin Ducks are still at Kamiiso, they were quite tame late yesterday afternoon but unfortunately the light wasn't so great.

We went back today but they were sleeping on the opposite bank. There were also 10 or so Goosander, a lone Black Headed Gull and 4 Osprey, the latter species were well offshore though.

There have been 2 Red Necked Pharalopes around for a couple of weeks somewhere locally, some folk have taken nice pics of them. I don't know where they are though, if anyone knows please tell me.............

Not much in town last week either, a singing Chestnut Eared Bunting and male Stonechat on the river near my apartment being the most interesting (a flyover Mallard was also a surprise). Not many photo opps, here are some scrapings from the barrel.........

A family moved in to the apartment upstairs. They are very very noisy, they have a small child that runs and jumps around like a chimp on crystal meth.

Am listening to the 3rd Test, very relaxing end to an uneventful week in smalltown Japan.

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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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Slow time is here

Well July is here. July is (and I'm sure this is true for most birders in temperate latitudes in the northern hemisphere) the quietest month of the year birding wise in south Hokkaido.

Not much to report from Hakodate, the Red Cheeked Starlings were still in a feeding frenzy this afternoon. It looks like this youngster has cherry stains around its mouth.............

Hot and sticky again today, at night its very pleasant though. Soon I'll crack open a beer and watch Holland vs Brazil (and try to forget about last Sunday's game)..............

The common residents plus Japanese Bush Warbler, Black Faced Bunting, Asian House Martin and Bullheaded Shrike were all that are around now. The Oriental Reed Warblers are still singing, here's one on TV.

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