2018 late Summer trip #1

We just got back from a 3 night camping trip. The weather was awful: strong winds coming in off the sea, heavy rain...................

We stayed 3 nights in Oshamanbe and our focus was on waders. We managed to see quite a lot over the 4 days despite the weather.

On this day (April 25th).....................

April 25th 2014.

A Pacific Golden Plover on one of the local beaches 4 years ago today. This is a regular visitor to south Hokkaido but they are usually unapproachable in the middle of the ricefields. Not this one though..............

More Narcissism

Lots of Narcissus Flycatchers again on Monday....................

2014 Best of #3

Some of my fave shots from late winter through to the end of spring........................

 

On this day (September 25th).............................

September 25th 2011

A flock of Pacific Golden Plover in the ricefields just outside Hakodate 3 years ago today. I was actually looking for Sharp Tailed Sandpiper in the same area, but I couldn't find any (and I've yet to find any anywhere).

Not a great photo by any means but it did earn me $75 as it was used in an American birding magazine...............

Peak season starts slowly

Pacific Golden Plover

Autumnal

A flock of Pacific Golden Plover in the ricefields at Ono yesterday. I was looking for Sharp Tailed Sandpiper, several had been seen with the Plover flock.

There was one small wader in with them but as you can see it was just a Dunlin.

There were several Common Snipe around too but the bird of the day was Yellow Wagtail, a scarce bird in Japan. There were 2 of them but they were very shy and I couldn't get any photo. I saw a few other brief glimpses of other waders but nothing conclusive except for 1 Common Sandpiper..

The Plovers were nice to see though and as you can tell we're finally getting some decent weather, the last 3 days have been warm, sunny and very clear.

Not much in town the last few days. No migrants near my apartment, just a Kingfisher and a flyover Night Heron.

At Yakumo there were more Kingfisher, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Common Sandpiper, Osprey, Goosander, Teal, Pintail, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, 2 Great Crested Grebe, Great Egret and lots of Black Headed Gull, here's BIF of one I took whilst waiting in vain for something more interesting to come nearer.

So autumn is here, nights are getting cooler and soon the leaves will be turning.........

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It's gone quiet............

An Asian Brown Flycatcher on the river near my apartment yesterday. The spring migration is beginning to fizzle out, everything is going green.

There were 2 or 3 ABFs buzzing around, a drab-looking but perky character.

Other migrants included 8 Common Sandpiper, Arctic Warbler and Eye Browed Thrush but they were skulking in the bushes, as was this bird.

A female Mugimaki Flycatcher, a scarce but regular migrant and the first one I've seen near my flat.

Soon there will just be the residents and summer breeders, liks this Bullheaded Shrike.

The first 2 weeks of May were wonderful but it's been a bit slow since then. Last Sunday we went to the ricefields at Ono where Osamu (a local birder) had found a very impressive selection of waders. All I could find were a handful of Wood Sandpiper (which flew away as soon as I noticed them) and a flock of 10 or so Pacific Golden Plover, a local tick.

Onuma was getting more leafy and buggy (I got my first mosquito bite of the year). Lots of stuff around: Narcissus Flycatcher, Black and Grey Headed Woodpecker, Japanese Thrush, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Russet Sparrow etc but no photos except this huge frog.

Looking forward to the start of the test series tomorrow, god I can't believe it's just about summer again................

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Grey waters and dirty optics

A Short Tailed Shearwater in the Tsugaru Straits this afternoon.

I joined a local birding group's outing on the Hakodate-Oma ferry. Oma is a smal port in the north of Honshu, it's a out 90 minutes away from Hakodate. Short tailed Shearwaters were the focus of the trip, countless numbers migrate through the straits and have come all the way from Tasmania. I've seen them from the shore before but this was the first time I've been close.

They were tricky to photograph, I have lots of shots of out of focus birds and in focus waves. Other stuff on the sea included Rhinoceros Auklet and a couple of flocks of Red Pharalope. This was a lifer for me.

In late May there is a heavy passage of Red Necked Pharalope (which again can be seen from the shore) but I didn't realise the other species was here too. Nice to see a few in summer plumage too.

There were also some Dolphins which were impossible to get a decent shot of.

So landed at Oma and had 2 or 3 hours to kill. Oma is a really rundown ramshackle place. It is noticeably poorer than Hokkaido and the town seems to lack any facilities whatsoever. This ferry service will close later this year meaning Oma will be even more of a dead-end. Me and the wife came here 10 years ago to visit the nearby Osore-zan to see the itako (mediums who can speak to the dead.............yeah right) do their thing. It was a backwater then too........

There were a few birds however. Brent Geese and Whooper Swan flocks were heading north and there was an Osprey fishing in the port. When I was taking these I was thinking 'wow, these are going to be my best ever Osprey shots'.

When I looked at them a couple of minutes later I was thinking 'wow, what the f**k is wrong with these?' I checked the camera settings and then looked at the lens. The optics were filthy, caked with sea spray I guess. I didn't have any lens cleaning gear with me and very gently cleaned it the best I could with the sleeve of my shirt.

There were several species of wader there too. Turnstone, Little Ringed Plover and a summer plumage Pacific Golden Plover. The resulting pics weren't quite as bad but still look as if they were taken through a dirty window.

The weather was better on the way back and there were still loads of Shearwaters. This one seems very pale, dunno if it was just the angle and the way the sun caught it or what...........

So an interesting day and a nice change. I met some friendly folk including a doctor from Matsumae who spoke extremely good English, the tour 'leader' who is a retired professor and a big expert on seabirds plus a couple from Sapporo who professed to be fans of this blog.

Next time I do this sort of thing I'll put a filter on my lens, a slight drop in IQ quality is better than a salty lens.

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*Edited to Add*

Whilst dumping lots of photos in the trash I've been looking through some of the other Pharalope pics and found at least 1 Red Necked Pharalope in there (not on the above pic though).