On this day (November 13th).....................

November 13th 2013.

A Red-breasted Flycatcher 2 years ago today in Hakodate. A female or immature I guess...............

This is a scarce but probably regular passage visitor and was my second individual after one a few years earlier.

I've also seen the very closely related Taiga Flycatcher in Hakodate but females/immatures are very similar. This was originally identified by me as a Taiga Flycatcher................nut I was wrong.

A scarce visitor in the snow.................

Not a very good shot but this is a Red-breasted Flycatcher, a bit of a scarce visitor to Hokkaido. This is the second time I've seen this bird (or third.....I also got a Taiga Flycatcher which may or may not be a subspecies and anyway I can't really tell them apart in this plumage). Each time has been in mid to late autumn, long after all the other flycatchers have gone.

It was in a park in the east of town and difficult to keep track of. I also only had limited time and had to go home without any nice shots, just record shots.

As you can see there is a bit of snow, in fact yesterday was very wintry with about 10cm of snow on the car in the morning and frozen icy roads too.

Other common stuff in the park included Rustic and Black Faced Bunting, Siskin, Nuthatch, 4 species of tit, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Wren and Goldcrest. This was taken when I was waiting in vain for the flycatcher to appear again..............

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On this day (November 27th)..........

November 27th 2009.



A Red Breasted Flycatcher in the bushes alongside the river near my apartment. Or is it a Taiga Flycatcher? These recently split species look very similar, at least to me. One reader of this blog suggested it was the former and long time after the event I put an ID request on birdforum and the general consensus seemed to be that it was indeed a Red Breasted.

A pretty crappy heavily cropped and noisy photo it's true but I was glad to at least get a record shot of what is either a scarce or extremely scarce bird in Hokkaido.........whichever one it is!

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A quiet week in November

A quiet week just went by, for various reasons I couldn't get out much...........

The 3 species of Heron (including the above Great Egret) were on the local river and a couple of days ago I relocated the Red Breasted Flycatcher. Not great shots (the camera settings were intended for large airborne Herons against bright skies not little skulkers in the bushes) but here we are.......

We'd heard reports of a Great Grey Shrike nearby and we went to look for it this afternoon. Nothing doing (and no Rooks or Daurian Jackdaws either) but we did see this male Merlin. This was the only shot I could fire off before it disappeared...........

There were loads of Salmon in the river in Ono. And hundreds of dead ones in the fields next to the river too, presumably a result of last week's heavy rains. Sadly no eagles feeding on them though........

A dull old week not helped by Liverpool plunging out of the Champions League.

Nothing interesting to say, I'll sign off for now.........

Slow week but some crappy pics of a semi-rarity

The 7D continues to be an excellent BIF camera, this was one of 2 great Egrets on the local river and all 3 shots were from the same rapid burst.

Really crappy weather this week, grey rainy days. Like Preston in autumn in fact.

The Egrets were one of 3 heron species on the river and these shots were taken on particularly overcast days.

More trees have been cut down by the river, I have no idea why. Like I say I'm sure it's just the City Hall spending tax ¥en. I really really hope it doesn't mean they're going to 'improve' the river. As anyone who has spent time in Japan will attest the locals just love concrete (or at least those locals who are in charge of government budgets do).

The bulk of the trees and bushes near my flat that sheltered many many migrants over the last few years are now gone forever. In some (as yet) unmolested bushes further downstream I  noticed this unusual looking small bird. Its black tail and white outer tail markings showed it was something a little different.........

Lousy pictures but they show a female Red-breasted Flycatcher, a lifer for me and #192 (I think) on my Hakodate list. Both it and this Red Flanked Bluetail were being mercilessly bullied by the male Daurian Redstart that sets up territory here in the winter.

The first Hawfinch of the winter have returned. In Goryokaku Park exactly the same birds were present as last week. 3 Coot plus the male Pochard and young Temincks Cormorant.

The 2 Little Grebe had been joined by a third individual. This is a species I'm struggling to take a decent photo of, they are so shy, Here is a not really very good one to be going on with.

All the sport on TV is on really late tonight. England's meaningless reserve team against Brazil is on about 2am (or 2.30am?), The rugby is on after midnight too and the Ireland v France play-off, the one really tasty game this weekend,  is on at about 4am or something. I have to get up early to teach a friend's class tomorrow so it looks like I'll miss them all..........